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The Zigzag Series. 

BY 

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS TN EUROPE. 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN CLASSIC LANDS. 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE ORIENT. 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE OCCIDENT. 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN NORTHERN LANDS. 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN ACADIA. 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

BSTES AND LAURIAT, Publishers. 

BOSTON, MASS. 




SARDANAPALUS. 



Zigzag Journeys 



THE LEVANT, 



WITH A TALMUDIST STORY-TELLER. 



A SPRING TRIP OF THE ZIGZAG CLUB THROUGH EGYPT 
AND THE HOLY LAND. 



BY 

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH, 

AUTHOR OF "poems FOR CHRISTMAS, EASTER, AND NEW YEAR," "YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF AMERICA," 
"zigzag JOURNEYS IN EUROPE," ETC. 



FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 



BOSTON: 
ESTES AND LAURIAT, 

301-305 Washington Street. 
1886. 



Copyright, 1885, 
By EsTES AND Lauriat. 

All Rights Reserved. 




PREFACE. 




T is one aim of this volume to amuse and entertain. 
But the writer has a deeper purpose in this book, 
and in all the books of this series. It is to inter- 
est young people in history and heroic records, 
and especially in the present political history 
of the countries to which the journeys are sup- 
posed to be made. 

Young people should be made intelligent about the politics of 
other lands. The writer has endeavored to give, in this volume, as 
clear a view as possible of the present aspects of the Eastern ques- 
tions, and of the governments of the countries of the Levant ; so that 
when a young reader of the book shall see telegrams from the East 
in regard to political movements, he may better understand them, 
and be able to follow current history as it shall be recorded by the 
telegraph. 

A like aim underlies the stories and narratives of all this series of 
books, — to lay the foundation for better reading, for a broader politi- 
cal intelligence. 

The writer is indebted to Mrs. Andrews, of Hamilton, N. Y., for 
the descriptive parts of the two chapters on Greece. 

H. B. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter Page 

I, Old Ali Bedair 15 

II. Some Curious Stories 31 

III. Nights in London and a Night in Ancient Thebes 51 

IV. Cost of Journeys in the Levant 67 

V. To THE Mediterranean 84 

VI. To THE Pyramids 100 

VII. The Ruins of the Queen City of the World . . » 125 

VIII. A Digression. — Egyptian Antiquities in Boston 158 

IX. History of England in Egypt 197 

X. The Joy of the whole Earth 211 

XI. " Even unto Bethlehem " 239 

XII. The Sultan and Palestine 261 

XIII. Athens 267 

XIV. The new Greek Empire 291 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Sardanapalus Fiontispiece. 

A Ford of the River Jordan 17 

Egyptian Garden and Temple .... 21 

Travelling in the East ....... 25 

The Mode of Obeisance 27 

Arab and Ass , . 29 

A Merchant starting on a Journey in 

Palestine . 33 

The Dog watching Abel's Body ... 36 

Camel in the Desert ■^•] 

Plain and Obelisk of Heliopolis ... 39 

A Family moving in the East .... 41 
View on the Road from Jerusalem to 

Jericho 45 

Mount Ararat . 47 

On the Upper Nile 49 

Egyptian Curiosities 53 

The Demavend 57 

Peasants reaping in the Field .... 61 

Ruins of Thebes 6^ 

Winged Bull, Assyria 6g 

Merchant and Camel 73 

Winged Bull from Nineveh ^d 

Hanging Gardens of Babylon .... 77 

Palace of Nineveh ....... 80 

Grand Hall of Assyrian Museum ... 81 

Interior of a Palace, Seville %■] 

The Rock of Gibraltar 91 

The Funeral Procession 93 

Hannibal swearing Eternal Hatred to 

the Romans 95 

Hannibal on an Expedition 97 

Alexander the Great 103 



HAGB 

An Egyptian Villa 107 

Brick Pyramid of Faioum 109 

Donkey Boys 1 1 1 

Pyramids and Sphinx 115 

Rameses 117 

Medinet, Court of Rameses 118 

Triumphal Car of Sesostris 119 

Medinet, Temple-palace of Rameses . 123 

Duck-shooting on the Nile 127 

Vultures in Egypt 131 

Falls of the Nile 135 

Coptic Maiden 137 

Karnak, Hypostyle Hall 139 

Karnak, Exterior Wall 141 

Court of the Colossi 143 

The Dealer in Antiquities 147 

Cats . 151 

Snake-charming ■ • • '55 

Egyptian Ruin 159 

Facade in Mexico 169 

Egyptian-like Ruins in Mexico .... 173 

The Sacks of Wine leaking 175 

Leaving his Arm behind 177 

The Mameluke's Leap ...... 183 

The Slave was borne away 185 

Dervishes 187 

Defile in the Road from Palestine to 

Egypt 190 

An Egyptian Town . 191 

Scene on the Nile 205 

Boats on the Nile 209 

Hills and Walls of Jerusalem .... 212 

Jerusalem 213 



12 



ILL USTRA TIONS. 



PAGE 

The Mosque of Omar 216 

Interior of the Mosque of Omar . . . 217 

The Jews' Place of Wailing 220 

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives . . 221 

The Holy Sepulchre 224 

View in the Valley of the Jordan . . . 225 

Coming to see the Miracle 229 

The Queen of Sheba 232 

The Queen of Sheba and Solomon . . 235 

The Pools of Solomon 236 

Bethlehem 240 

Bethlehem 241 

Ruth 245 

The Castle of David, and Jaffa Gate . . 250 



PAGE 

The Grand Range of Lebanon .... 251 

Mount of Olives 253 

Grotto of the Nativity, Bethlehem . . 256 

Vale and City of Nazareth 257 

The Suburbs of Athens 269 

Port of Pirjeus 273 

The Athenian Carnival 277 

The Parthenon 281 

Travelling in Greece 283 

Hermonthis 285 

An Arab Boy 289 

A Fountain in Greece 294 

Ruins of a Temple in Greece .... 295 




CHAPTER I. 



OLD ALI BEDAIR. 



The Jewish Interpreter. 



"f 



MM 



f^~X'^'''''"^lU THE autumn of i88- Charlie Leland, one of the 
M members of the Zigzag Club, was in London. 
■ I He had gone there with his father, a Boston mer- 
j| chant, who had become a nervous sufferer by- 
prolonged application to business. Physicians had rec- 
ommended to Mr. Leland an immediate change of scene ; 
and he had suddenly left for London, taking Charlie with 
him. 

Charlie greatly loved his father's companionship. The 
friendship between fathers and sons is a pleasing feature 
of Boston life. It is not an uncommon thing for a Boston 
boy to choose his own father for his confidential companion and most 
intimate friend. 

Mr. Leland and his son might often have been seen taking arm-in- 
arm walks into the beautiful suburbs of Boston, — over the Mill Dam 
road, or into the cool woods of the fenceless Roxbury Park, or making 
late summer excursions into that miniature Rocky Mountain region 
known as Middlesex Fells. 



1 6 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

In London, the two were constantly together. In the morn- 
ings they visited the art galleries, and in the afternoons often 
went to Regent Park, or Hyde Park and Rotten Row, or, when the 
weather was warm, read the London journals on the hospitable 
benches of St. James's Park. Sometimes they went to Sydenham 
Palace, and often to suburban places made famous by history or 
poetry. 

They often passed a part of the evening at the American Ex- 
change, in reading the American journals, of which few reading-rooms 
in the United States have so large a supply. 

One night, as they were sitting together here, an aged man entered 
the room in Oriental costume ; and his benevolent face and somewhat 
peculiar habits attracted the attention of both father and son. The 
Oriental visitor — for such he seemed to be — took no notice of the 
papers that covered the tables and walls of the room, but went to one 
of the windows and gazed abstractedly into the gas-lighted air, and 
towards the luminous windows of Charing Cross Hotel. 

The streets, like rivers, were pouring a vast population into the 
Strand, — people seeking various halls, churches, and places of amuse- 
ment. The old man watched the gay forms as they passed ever on 
and on, coming out of the night and vanishing into the night. The 
street was filled with cabs and hansoms, crowded 'buses and eleo^ant 
private vehicles. Near by the bells of St. Martin's were striking ; 
but the happy hearts on the street were only made lighter by the 
musical notes that marked the passing of time. 

The entrance to the Strand on an autumn eveniuGf is a tide of 

o 

human life. The scene must have been strange to Oriental eyes ; all 
the overflow of gayety, prosperity, and splendor. The old man's gaze 
seemed riveted on the kaleidoscope ; a half-hour passed, the bell of 
St. Martin's struck again, but he did not move. 

Mr. Leland, having finished his reading of the Boston papers 
received by the latest steamer, went to the windov*^ where the old 



ip»ll|ippppBpiIS!i f 



lllliiH^^^^^^^ 




OLD ALT BEDAIR. 



19 



man \Vas standing, and looked for a time at the hundreds of vehicles 
passing by Charing Cross. 

" A beautiful night," said Mr. Leland. 

" Night," answered the old man, in pure English, — " night ! There 
is no night here, — the people have banished the night of God, — no 
sky, no stars. Night visits the desert, night visits the sea ; the peo- 
ple here never see the night. Come to Cairo and I will show you 
the night, and read to you the poetry of the night." 
" You are from the East ? " 
" Yes, from the East ; and you? " 
" From America." 

" America, — so far away, so far away. I have travelled with Amer- 
icans. Good people, — Americans ! I love Americans." 

He touched his heart, and turned towards the door, saying, — 
" So far away." 

A few days after, while Mr. Leland and Charlie were visiting, it 
may be for the twentieth time, the Turner pictures in the National 
Gallery, the same old man appeared. He passed them without no- 
ticing them at first; but on slowly recrossing the room, he recog- 
nized Mr. Leland, and saluted him by a wave of the hand. He then 
bent his dark eyes on Charlie, and his face lighted up with such a 
smile of good will that the boy's face responded in sympathy. The 
old man waved his hand again, this time to Charlie ; then moved on, 
saying, — 

"So far away." 

" What a benevolent face ! " said Charlie to his father. " I wish I 
knew him. There is something about him that interests me, and that 
I like." 

A week passed. One morning Mr. Leland and Charlie went into 
Westminster Abbey, and wandered almost alone among the chapels 
of dead heroes, benefactors, and kings. 

They stopped before the Wesley tablets, and read the inscriptions. 



20 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" ' God buries his servants, but his work goes on ! ' " said Mr. 
Leland, repeating meditatively what he had just been reading. " I 
did not expect to find a memorial of the Wesleys here. The found- 
ers of Methodism were excluded in their day from fellowship with 
the English church, and their name^j are now made to ornament the 
Abbey. Truly, 'they that turn many to righteousness — ' "' 
" ' Shall shine as the stars,' " said a voice, like an echo. 
Mr. Leland turned. Near him stood the figure of the old Oriental, 
his face beaming with pleasure. 

He waved his hand. " I am glad that thou lovest the poetry 
of the prophets," he said. 

He waved his hand to Charlie, his face again lighting up wnth an 
amiable smile. There was a burst of organ music ; and the old man 
turned slowly towards another part of the Abbey, saying, as before, — 
" So far away." 

Mr. Leland and Charlie sat down to listen to the organ. 
"I have read many books," said Charlie, "about the kings who 
are buried here." Then referring to memorials like the Wesleys', he 
added : " I wish some one would write a book about the benefactors 
whose names are here, and who crowned themselves kings of men by 
the struggles of their own lives. I am more impressed by these me- 
morials than by anything else I have seen. The tombs of the kings 
in comparison seem to me to be only stone, dust, and rubbish." 
" Deeds are the true crown of life," said Mr. Leland. 
" Let us go and look again at the Coronation Stone," said 
Charlie. 

The stone was set into the frame of the throne chair. Mr. Leland 
and Charlie stood looking upon it with the doubt with which most 
Americans are accustomed to view legendary relics. A light, slow 
footstep was heard on the stone floor, and the sound betrayed the 
approach of the odd Oriental figure that they had met before. 
The old man said to a custodian, — 




EGYPTIAN GAKUKN AND TEMPLE. 



OLD A LI BEDALR. 23 

" Jacob's ? " 

The doughty custodian bobbed his head. 

A beautiful Hght came into the old man's face. 

" Adam's ? " 

The doughty Englishman shook his head with an expression of 
diso^ust. 

"Jacob's 'ead laid on that stone when he dreamed of the ladder of 
angels," said the custodian. 

" That stone was twelve stones once," said the old man. " The 
twelve stones were the altar of Adam." 

" Adam ! " said the amazed custodian, having never before heard 
such a great antiquity attributed to the relic. 

" Abel offered his sacrifice upon them," said the old man. 
" And," he added, " Abraham made his altar of them." 

"Look 'ere! you are a Jew!" said the fat little Englishman. 
" My conscience is not quite easy when I tell people that that is the 
stone where Jacob saw the vision," he said to Mr. Leland ; " and 'ere 
comes a man who says the stone is as old as Adamr 

" The twelve stones became a single pillow when Jacob laid his 
head upon them," said the old man, reverently. 

Charlie could see no evidences of such an assimilation, and even 
the custodian had never observed any latent marks of the alleged 
miraculous transformation. 

" May I ask you who you are ? " said the custodian to the old man. 

" They call me the Talmudist, — Ali Bedair. I am an interpreter, 
and travel with parties in the East." 

The old man moved slowly away, with a gentle sweep of his hand 
to Charlie, whose eyes followed him. 

" A character," said the custodian to Mr. Leland. " London is full 
of characters, especially Jewry." 

A service had commenced in the Abbey. The seats were partly 
filled with people with prayer-books. In one of the seats were four 



24 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

American young ladies, returning to America from Italy by the wav 
of London. 

Mr. Leland and Charlie took a seat behind them. 

The young ladies seemed devoutly given to their prayer-books, as 
strangers would be expected to be under the inspirations of the solemn 
Abbey. The music was almost celestial ; the surpliced choir rose and 
disappeared, like a vision ; the ancient liturgy was echoed from the 
tombs of scores of silent poets, and a hundred princes, and all the 
kings. The devotion of the young ladies to their books was absorbing. 
The service closed. 

" There," said one of the ladies, " I have read all this book says, 
and now I am ready for the sights." 

" I 've read mine," said the second. " Mine is Baedeker's. What 
is yours } " 

" Murray's," said the third. 

" Mine is the ' London Guide Book,' " said the fourth. 

" We have n't lost any time, have we } " said the first. 

"fNo! " thankfully answered the other three. 

" This is a queer world," said Mr. Leland. 

" Let us go," said Charlie. " I am ashamed of our own people ; 
but I wish I could meet that old Jew again. There is something I 
like about him, — he interests me, I cannot tell how or why. He 
seems like a poet, like a patriarch, like a wise man of an Arabian 
story. What is a Talmudist ? " 

Mr. Leland was unable to say. The meeting of a Talmudist in 
London was an unexpected episode, and one for which none of the 
guide-books had made any provision. 

" Do you think that we shall see him again } " asked Charlie. 

" I do not know." 

" If we do, I am sure that we shall know him." 

" Yes, quite sure," said Mr. Leland, with a smile. " I should be 
likely to know him anywhere." 



//n/mk^:. 




OLD A LI BED AIR. 



27 



The gray weeks of late November and early December passed. 
London grew cold and dark; and Mr. Leland decided to go South, 
and spend the January and February of the new year in a brighter 
and warmer atmosphere. Where? Nice was thought of ; Majorca was 
discussed ; Rome, Naples, Amalfi. Then the Levant presented its 
vision of grand antiquities. Mr. Leland preferred Nice ; but Charlie 
was eager for a boat or tent journey in the lands of the rising sun, down 
the Nile to Thebes, or from Egypt over the track of the Israelites to 
Jerusalem, and thence to Damascus, the most ancient city in the 
world. 

Days were passed in indecision. Charlie became accustomed to 
greet his father each morning with the question, — 

" Is it the Levant } " 

The lands of the Levant are properly those that lie upon and 
stretch away from the eastern shores of 
the Mediterranean, the lands of the 
sunrise ; but these comprise territo- 
ries so important and historic that the 
word Levant has come to be applied to 
the entire East. 

Christmastide came. London be- 
came white and green ; the air was full 
of bells, and the churches of music. 

" Is it the Levant ? " said Charlie to 
his father one day soon after Christmas. 

" If I could secure good travelling 
companions, it would be the Levant. 
I learned," he added, " a curious mat- 
ter yesterday from the card-writer in 

the Charing Cross Hotel. It will interest you. You remember the 
old Jew, — the Talmudist ? " 

" That we met in Westminster Abbey and at other places ? " 




THE MODE OF OBEISANXE. 



28 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IX THE lEVANT. 

" Yes. Well, it has been his business for years to accompany 
English travellers from Cairo to Jerusalem by the way of the Sinai 
Peninsula. I wish we could meet him again. He has a good repu- 
tation for character, amiability, and intelligence." 

New Year's eve came. Early in the evening Mr. Leland and 
Charlie went to a service in the Methodist chapel at Bunhiil Fields, 
where the pioneers of Methodism had preached ; and they here visited 
John Wesley's house, which is close to the chapel. 

Late in the evening they took a cab for London Bridge, and were 
left there to hear the bells of the city at midnight announce the New 
Year. 

It was a glorious night. The weather had become mild, after some 
days of severe cold. The moon was mirrored in the Thames, the 
gray towers were illumined with a mystic light, and • the streets over- 
flowed with people. 

At midnight all the bells of the city rang out over the great 
wilderness of homes, as Tennyson has voiced them in " In Memo- 
riam." While all the air was thus throbbing with joyful music, a bent 
form slowly passed Mr. Leland, then paused. 

" Beautiful," said the old man, — " beautiful ; but sweeter to my ears 
would have been the bells upon the hem of the ephod, or even the 
tinkling of the camel's bell. Is it not beautiful ? " 

Mr. Leland and Charlie had again met the Jew; and the three 
walked in company, in the early morning of the New Year, towards 
Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square. When Mr. Leland parted from 
the old man he said to Charlie, — 

" It is the Levant." 

The next day Charlie cabled home: ''The Levant — Egypt — 
Pales tine r 




CHAPTER 11. 



SOME CURIOUS STORIES. 



PATRIARCHAL LEGENDS FROM THE TALMUD. 



LELAND and Charlie had taken rooms at the 
old Golden Cross Hotel, near Trafalgar Square. 
Close by was the Charing Cross Hotel, in itself 
a city of people from all civilized lands. Ali 
Bedair had apartments, not in Old Jewry, but 
here; and on parting from the Lelands at the 
foot of the Nelson Statue on New Year's morn- 
ing, he graciously said, — 
" I hope my friends from the West will do me the honor to call 
upon me. I shall be glad to tell you about the Eastern journey that 
you propose to make. I wish I might accompany you." 
He added to Chaijie, — 

" If it be in your heart to visit an old man like me, I should be 
glad to welcome you. I once had a son. — My card." 

The old man's invitation was accepted by Mr. Leland and Charlie 

for the next evening In the mean time Mr. Leland made it his busi- 

ness to learn as much as possible about his new Oriental acquaintance. 

Ali Bedair was well known among lovers of Eastern travel in 

London. All who had met him commended him. 

" He is a mysterious old man of a most beautiful spirit," said one. 
" He has the heart of a woman and the mind of a poet," said 
another. 



22 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" He is the loveliest old man that I ever knew in any land," said a 
lady of rank who had travelled wnth him. 

" Ali Bedair is a story-teller," said a fourth. " He knows the Tal- 
mud by heart, and all the old legends and traditions of the East, 
whether Jewish or Mohammedan. Speak to him of any patriarch 
or prophet, and he will relate stories of him of which few Christian 
people have ever heard; untrue they may be, — fables, — but most 
beautifully true in the lessons of life and duty that they teach. It is 
worth making a journey to listen to the stories of Ali Bedair." 

Mr. Leland and Charlie found the old Jew in a simple room, that 
contrasted strangely with the general brightness and sumptuousness of 
the hotel palace. He received his visitors most graciously. Turning 
up the gas-light, he said, — 

" A sinofle liofht answers as well for three men as for one, and for 
a hundred. Praise the Lord ! My rooms are simple," he added. 
" But the place honors not the man, but the man the place. I would 
/were worthier." 

An hour or more was spent in conversation about journeys from 
Egypt through Syria. Ali Bedair's information seemed inexhaustible, 
and his descriptions of places were most vivid and glowing. His 
attention for a time was wholly given to Mr. Leland. Then suddenly 
turning to Charlie, he said, — 

" Pardon me, my son, I forget. ' Be affable to the young,' says a 
wise man. Shall you go with us, if we go ? " 

" It is my desire and ambition to go with you," said Charlie, 
warmly. 

" I am glad to hear you say that, my son. I have tried as well as 
I could to answer your fatlier's questions. Can I render a like service 
to you ? I would be glad to do something for you." 

He put his hand over his heart, and the simple words and gesture 
did not seem to be insincere. Charlie's affections were strongly 
drawn towards the gracious old man. 



SOME CURIOUS STORIES. 35 

" There is one question I would like to ask," he said, " if it will not 
seem to you intrusive or personal. You said in the Abbey that you 
were a Talimtdist. Father was not quite able to explain to me what 
a Talmudist is. Will you tell me?" 

" That is an unexpected question," said the old man. " I would 
rather take another time to answer it. But the wise men say, ' Use 
thy beautiful vase to-day, for to-morrow it may break.' 

" The Talmud is a commentary on the truths of the Scriptures, 
with illustrations of those truths in both history and fable. It is, or 
was, the oral law of our people, the collected wise thoughts of our 
nation for a thousand years. It comprises books of our history and 
traditions ; it contains the sayings of our holiest and most learned 
men. It is a book of truths that men have learned by experience, and 
that time has proven to be true. 

" The Talmud says to young men and to students like yourself : 
' Add to your studies a trade, if you would keep your life free from 
sin.' This is wisdom and truth, but it does not claim direct spiritual 
inspiration as does a verse from the Sacred Scriptures. Do you see .f* 

" The Talmud began with a record of the thoughts and experiences 
of wise men. It was preserved by the Schools of the Prophets, and 
each generation added to it new thoughts, proverbs, and illustrations. 
It was greatly used by the teachers in our synagogues. It was finally 
arranged in order and transcribed by Rabbi Judah and his sons, dur- 
ing the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus; and as such we find 
it to-day, though other rabbis have made additions to it. I will give 
you illustrations of it from time to time, should we travel together, 
which may God permit." 

It was a lovely night. The statue of Nelson, which was seen from 
the high windows, seemed lifted into the sky from Trafalgar Square, 
and the clouds drifted white in the blue dome above it. 

Ali Bedair sat by the window, and the night seemed to fill him 
with the spirit of his race and its ancient traditions. It was wonderful 



36 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



to listen to his quotations, his wit, and his fables. Charlie, impelled 
towards him by sympathy, drew his chair close to his. 

" Tell me some of the ancient stories of Jewish people that are not 
found in the Scriptures," said Charlie. 

" Shall they be true tales from the Talmud, or poetry? " 

" Poetry." 

" I do not mean verse, but allegory. Do you see ? " 

Story followed story, the old man selecting from Oriental traditions 
such as he thought' that Charlie would most like to hear. 




ABEL'S SHEPHERD-DOG. 

Cain was a tiller of the ground, and 
brother Abel was a pastor, of sheep. 

The life of Abel was simple and 
pure, and was passed in the land of 
Adamah, where flowers from the "^P''^^- 

seeds of Eden still bloomed 

He was attended in h 
pastoral duties by a shep- 
herd dog, to whom he was 
always kind, and who 
became very much y, - '.. 
attached to his /^^fc?£^ 
master -p-^ 



THE DOG WATCHING ABEL'S BODY 



One day, Adam said to Cain and Abel : " My sons, ascend the mountain, and 
offer up sacrifices to the Ruler of the Earth and Heavens." 



SOME CURIOUS STORIES. 



39 



Abel took from his flock his best sheep, and ascended to the mountain altar. 
Cain took a sheaf of corn, and one that was imperfect and useless. 

The heavenly fire fell upon the offering of Abel, and the smoke mingled 
with the sky, but the sheaf of Cain remained untouched. 

Jealousy, like an evil spirit, entered into the heart of Cain. 

One day, Cain found Abel asleep on the mountain, with his dog by his side. 
Cain took a stone and dashed it against his head. He saw that he had killed 
his brother, and hurried away. 




^ ^ ^(^ ,Y ^ ____ ~ 
PLAIN AND OBELISK OF HELIOPOLTS. 

The shepherd dog watched by the dead body of Abel as it lay still and cold 
upon the mountain side beneath the shadowy sun and the pitiful stars. 

The body was discovered at last by Adam and Eve. The latter sat down 
beside it and wept. It was the first time that they had met Death in the world, 
and they knew not what to do. 

A dark raven flew into a tree near them. He saw them weeping and pitied 
them. The raven had met Death before them ; his mate had just died. 

Then the raven said : "I will comfort Adam, and teach him how to hide the 
cause of his sorrow from the eye of day." 

The raven dropped down from the tree in the sight of the sorrowful parents, 
and dug a hole in the earth. To this he presently brought the dead form of his 
mate, and covered it with earth. 



40 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Then said Adam to Eve : " We will do the same with Abel." 

So they covered the form of Abel with earth, and blessed the dark raven 

who had taught them the lesson. 

The raven was rewarded. From that day the raven has never asked Heaven 

for rain without bringing the world that blessing. The dog, as then, has ever 

proved the most faithful friend of man. 



PATRIARCHAL LEGENDS. 

Shem, the son of Noah, became King of Salem. One day, one of the 
Patriarchs said to him, — 

" What service did you and your father and brethren render to God while you 
were in the ark .'' " 

"Charity," answered the king. 

" How } " asked the Patriarch ; " there was no one in the ark but yourselves." 

" Even so ; but we showed charity to the animals." 

" How ? " 

" By kindness and attention. We sometimes did not sleep at night in order 
to make their condition comfortable." 

The Patriarch expressed surprise. 

" Once," continued the king, " when we had been delayed in feeding the 
beasts, a hungry lion sprung upon Noah, my father, and bit him." 

"Then," said the Patriarch, "Noah was indeed a righteous man, if his 
charity extended to the dumb animals, and he bore with patience the injuries 
that their ignorance inflicted upon him. I will henceforth be more charitable 
to the poor, the wanderers, and the wayfarers." 

A Patriarch searched for a grove and a fountain of water. When he found 
such a place, he built there a guest-house. 

When a beggar or a traveller came to the guest-house hungry, he gave him 
meat and fruits ; and when thirsty, he gave him water from the fountain. 

" I thank thee," the guest would say to the Patriarch. 

" Thank the Master. I am only a servant." 

" Who is the Master ? " 

" The All-Merciful." 

" How shall I worship him .? " 

'* By returning thanks for all that he has done." 




, ' /// , 1'. 

^''■' ^1 ,|ij|f| |, 




l!lli'i'!l'ilillllli';liil! 



SOME CURIOUS STORIES, 43 



THE COURTSHIP OF JOSEPH. 

The patriarch Joseph not only had a very tender heart, but he looked on 
the bright and hopeful side of all human concerns. 

When he and his aged father met, they embraced and kissed each other. 

"Now," said Jacob, "tell me, I pray thee, what evil thy brothers did unto 
thee when they betrayed and sold thee." 

" Nay, my father," said Joseph, " let me tell thee only how good the Lord 
was to me." 

The wife of Joseph was Asenath, a daughter of a Priest of the Sun. In 
her girlhood she was wonderfully beautiful. She dwelt in a tower ten stories 
high, surrounded by palm gardens, and she had everything that heart could 
desire. 

She was an idol-worshipper. In her tower were idols of gold and silver to 
which she daily paid her devotions. But the beautiful Asenath had never been 
allowed to see a young man ; so she ignorantly declared that she disliked the 
race of men, except only her father. 

One day Joseph came to visit the old priest. He was seated in one of 
Pharaoh's chariots. The chariot was of solid gold, and was drawn by four 
white horses, with gilded reins. 

Joseph was dressed in a tunic of gold, with a mantle of crimson. There 
was a fillet of gold about his temples, and he carried an olive branch in his 
hands. 

When Asenath saw him she thought a sun god had come out of the bright- 
ness of the sky. She dared not look upon so much beauty, and she hastened 
to her chamber. 

Now Joseph, before that he saw Asenath, had shunned the company of 
women. 

Then said Joseph to the Priest of the Sun, — 

" Where is the maiden who was here just now } " 

" My lord, she has gone to her tower ; for she is very modest, and has never 
seen the face of any man before to-day, save my own. I will send for her." 

When Asenath again appeared the priest said, — 

" My daughter, salute thy brother. He hateth women even as thou hatest 
men." 

She approached Joseph to kiss his hand. But Joseph said, — 



44 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



" I worship the living God ; thy Hps kiss dumb 
idols. Forbear, I pray thee." 

Then Asenath began to weep, and the heart of 
Joseph was touched. He said to her, — 

"Maiden, in eight days I will come to see thee 
again." 

Asenath went to her tower, and cast her idols from 
the window. She dressed herself in black robes, and 
knelt down and prayed for the true light, which is 
brighter than the sun. 

An angel saw her in Paradise. He pitied her, and 
gathered for her some honey from the roses whose 
odors filled all the air of that blissful region. He 
brought to her the honey, and when she had 
tasted it the true light came into her 
heart. She asked the angel to give 
a portion of the honey to her 
seven maidens, which he 
did, and they too re- 
ceived the inward 
light. 




m\ £ 



jJ . 'V w 




SOME CURIOUS STORIES. 



47 



" Rejoice," said the angel; "thy prayer is heard." 
Instantly the aged Priest of the Sun opened the door, saying, — 
"Joseph has come ; prepare to meet him." 

Joseph was told the story of the broken idols and the celestial honey, and 
he gladly received Asenath as his wife. 

Charlie asked the Jew if he thought that these stories were true. 
He declined to say, but answered evasively, — 
" All true poetry is the expression of truth." 




^^ 




.?:^^^'"^ Eii-^iw- 



MOUNT ARARAT. 



The chimes of St. Martin told the hours, and the bell the quarters 
of the hour. xAs the bells announced the hour of eleven, the gracious 
old man laid his hand on Charlie's as it clasped the arm of his chair, 
and said, — 

" Blessed is the son who has studied with his father, and happy is 
the father who himself instructeth his son." 



48 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

There was something in his tone like a benediction, and Mr. Le- 
land felt that it was time for him to rise and say good-night. Father 
and son crossed the street to the Golden Cross, with something of 
admiration for the lovely and helpful spirit so unexpectedly found in 
the Jew. Christians though they were, each felt that the visit had 
somehow proved helpful, and that the evening had been one of the 
most profitable in their lives. 



CHAPTER III. 



NIGHTS IN LONDON AND A NIGHT IN ANCIENT THEBES. 



A Zigzag Journey Planned. — Ali Bedair's Poetical Quotations, and his Story 
OF THE Lucky Old Man. 




HE result of Mr. Leland's conference with Ali Be- 
dair was that he would meet the latter at Alexandria, 
Egypt, early in March, and make a journey under his 
direction to Cairo, and down the Nile, and on return- 
ing, visit Palestine, arriving at Jerusalem in time to 
witness the celebration of Easter in April. 

The doctors had advised Mr. Leland to spend 

much time on the sea; and he resolved to spend the 

interval of some five weeks at different ports of the 

Mediterranean, taking one of the trade steamers at Liverpool that 

plied between that port and the English ports in the Mediterranean, 

Malta and Cyprus, and that touched at Alexandria on its return. 

Mr. Leland had found sight-seeing in London too exciting, and 
the voyage on the trade steamer would give him some weeks of com- 
parative rest. He went to Liverpool to make the arrangements. He 
found excellent accommodations on a stanch vessel, where he and 
his son would be the only passengers. The steamer was restricted 
to no regular date, but would probably reach Alexandria before the 



52 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

middle of February, stopping some days at Cadiz, and for a short 
time at Gibraltar and Sicily as well as the English Mediterranean 
Isles. She would leave Liverpool about the middle of January. 

Charlie Leland remained at the Golden Cross while his father was 
making these arrangements. The attachment that had suddenly 
sprung up between him and the aged Jew at Charing Cross grew ; 
and the friendly feeling led to one of those companionships that 
sometimes arise between studious youth and ripe and scholarly 
age. 

While Mr. Leland was absent, Wyllys Winn, an old member of 
the Zigzag Club, arrived in London, hoping to make an arrangement 
to take organ lessons with Best, a famous writer of music, an organ- 
teacher, and the organist of St. George's Hall, Liverpool. He imme- 
diately found Charlie Leland ; and one of the first visits that he made 
in London was to be introduced by Charlie to his Oriental friend, 
AH Bedair. 

At this visit the gentle Talmudist made several quotations that 
the boys thought very striking and beautiful ; and Charlie Leland 
made a note of them, as he wished to give thought to them when he 
should be alone. 

He had asked the Jew about the precepts of the Talmud, when 
the latter at once made the quotation, — 

" ' He who refuses a precept to a pupil is guilty of a theft.' " 

Old Ali Bedair was not to be thus guilty. He was never so happy 
as when he found ears for the proverbs that he had learned. 

"You are students," he said, "I see, — students from the West. 
Listen, and I will give you some words that wiser and better men 
than many that live now, have handed down to those who seek in- 
struction. 

' Who is he who becomes wise ? 
He who is wilhng to learn something from all. 
Who is he who becomes a conqueror ? 
He who learns to govern himself. 




ANCIENT KNIVES. 
From originals iu the British Mi 



KING OX HIS TilRONI 



EGYPTIAN CURIOSITIES. 



NIGHTS IN LONDON AND A NIGHT IN ANCIENT THEBES. 55 



Who is he who gains true riches? 
He who becomes content with his lot. 
Who is he who deserves the honor of men ? 
It is he who himself honors men.' " 



More poetic was the following: — 



' The iron breaks the stone, 
The fire melts the iron, 
The water extinguishes the fire, 
The wind dispels the cloud of water, 
A man withstands the wind, 
Fear overcomes the man, 
The wine-cup banishes fear. 
Sleep is more mighty than wine. 
Death is the master of Sleep, 
But Love is stronger than Death." 



Very impressive was the following thought 



Canst thou escape sin ? 

Where ? 
Think whence thou comest. 
Think whither thou goest, 
Think before Whom thou shalt appear. 
Canst thou escape sin 1 

Where ? " 



And as full of wisdom, this 



Again : — 



• He who possesses a knowledge of God, 
And he who possesses a knowledge of men, 
Will see the consequences of sin: 
He will not take it upon his soul." 

The best preacher is the heart, 
The best teacher is experience (time) ; 
The best book is mankind, 
And the best friend is God." 



Very simple and beautiful were the old man's views of life and 
its duties. 

" Yesterday," he said, " is the past. I am living in the future. 
To-morrow — who has seen it.? let me do my best now. 



56 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" Let me tell you, boys," he said, " about tent life in the East." 
Then followed a glowing and romantic description. Suddenly he 
paused and said, — 

" My life is a tent. I am a pilgrim from afar to Jerusalem. Pray 
that my tent may fall at last before the Beautiful Gate of the Temple." 

He related some poetic tales of Eastern fiction ; among them the 
following about — 



THE LUCKY OLD MAN. 

An Emperor was once passing through the streets of Tiberias when he 
noticed a very old man planting a fig-tree. 

" Why do you plant trees .'' " asked the Emperor. " If thou hadst done such 
work in thy youth, thou wouldst be gathering figs to-day, instead of planting 
fig-trees. Thou canst not hope to eat the fruit of this tree." 

" In my youth I labored for my own good," answered the old man ; " in 
my old age I labor for the good of others. In my youth I gathered figs from 
trees that others had planted ; other youth may eat of the trees that I plant. I 
must work in the sunset as at the sunrise, for the whole day is God's." 

" How old art thou } " asked the Emperor. 

" A hundred years." 

" Do you expect to eat fruit from this tree .-* " 

" If not, I will leave it to my son, as my father left orchards to me. That 
thought gives me pleasure. We live in future years already, in good intentions 
and dreams." 

"Happy old man'!" said the Empeior. 'Tf thou dost live to gather figs 
from this tree, come and visit me at my palace, and I will reward thy labor." 

Years passed. The old man lived, and the fig-tree grew. 

At last the tree filled with blossoms, then with figs. 

The old man gathered a basket of young figs, and taking his staff went to 
visit the Emperor. 

" Well," asked the Emperor, " what is thy desire } " 

" I am the old man whom, some years ago, you found planting a fig-tree. I 
was then a hundred years old. You told me then that if I ever lived to eat fruit 
from the tree to visit you, and therefore I am here. I have come to present you 
a basket of the figs." 




I«ii' iii| ! 

h ' \ 

I'' 



M\ 



!';'W,i,i;i 










NIGHTS IN LONDON AND A NIGHT IN ANCIENT THEBES. 



59 



The Emperor gave the basket to one of his body-guard, and told him to take 
out of it the figs and to replace every fig by a gold coin. 

The basket was returned to the old man. He looked into it, and was very 
happy; and he joyfully returned to his friends. 

" Why didst thou so honor the old Jew } " asked one of the royal household 
of the Emperor. 

"Because God had so honored him. God honors men first, the world 
afterwards." 

Now there lived near the old man an old woman who was very envious and 
avaricious. When she heard of her neighbor's good fortune, she said to her 
husband, — 

" Let us send a gift to the Emperor." 

"What shall it be.?" 

" Cocoanuts," said the old wife. 

" No, figs." 

The old wife filled a large basket with figs, saying, — 

"The more figs, the more coin. Now go, and you will return rich, like the 
Jew." 

The old man came to the palace. 

" Who are you .? " demanded the guard. 

" I have brought a present of figs for the Emperor." 

" And what is your reason .? " 

" That he may replace them with coins." 

The guard told the Emperor, who answered, — 

" Take from him the figs, and pelt him with them ; then order him to be gone. 
What has he done that 1 should honor him } " 

The guard did so, accordingly ; and the old man went home sorrowfully, and 
told his wife his reception and humihation. 

" But," he added, " I was lucky, after all." 



ow 



" Lucky — h 

"Suppose I had carried the cocoanuts 



One evening, as Ali Bedair was walking along the Thames Em- 
bankment, with Mr. Leland and Charlie, he stopped on the stone 
balcony that looks out upon the bridges, where stands the Egyptian 
Obelisk. It is near the Charin^ Cross Station, where the nis^ht is 
never silent, and where the clocks of London are heard at short 
intervals, reminding the loiterer of the swiftness of passing time. 



6o ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" This shaft of granite and gold," said the old interpreter, " looked 
down upon Egypt in the most splendid epoch of her history. Around 
us are some of the finest structures in the world, — St. Paul's, West- 
minster Abbey, the Parliament Houses, the Government Offices, White- 
hall, and Trafalgar Square with its monument. This is London at 
night. Did you ever fancy Memphis at night, or ancient Thebes at 
night.'' Was the scene like this.? Suppose this monument could 
speak, and reveal the scenes that have passed under its shadow ! " 

The three sat down on one of the public seats on the embank- 
ment near the monument, and the old man related to Charlie the 
following story : — 



A NIGHT AT ANCIENT THEBES. 

It was night at ancient Thebes. The reflection of countless stars seemed 
like jewels sinking into the Nile. The moon, full orbed, like a sun of night, 
viewed her beauty in the calm waters. 

Along the banks of the river palms rose like shadows. The air was fra- 
grant with the odors of the lotus; the banks were paved with lilies; the 
margin of the waters was white with callas. 

The city was silent. The pylons of temples with their hundred gates 
darkened the air. On one side of the valley rose the walls of the Libyan 
Mountains, a line of purple in the crystal air. On the other side were the 
mountains of Arabia, mysterious and dark, — a vast shadow-land. 

The city, with its hill-climbing temples and its mountain tombs, covered an 
area of fifty miles. It was a city alike of the living and of the dead. Its his- 
tory was lost in the traditions of mysterious epochs when gods governed the 
earth. Here slumbered the dead of four thousand years. 

Silence ! The palaces and temples were as still as the tombs in the hills. 
There had been a long festival ; barges with silken banners had brocaded the 
Nile, and the down-going of the sun had been followed by the blaze of countless 
torches. 

The Queen of Rome had come to visit the city of Menes. She had heard 
of the colossal sun-god called the Memnon ; how it saluted the rising sun with 
chords from its lips of stone, whose music filled the air. Disregarded and 



NIGHTS IN LONDON AND A NIGHT IN ANCIENT THEBES. 63 

neglected by Hadrian, whose vices unfitted him for a true husband, the un- 
happy queen desired to hear the voice of a god ; for the gods of Rome had long- 
ago ceased to speak. 

The sleeping city was in itself a world. St. Paul's in London, in comparison 
to the temple palace of Sesostris, would be but a chapel ; the largest cathe- 
dral of the world to-day might have found room in those royal halls. The 
city of London to this wilderness of palaces and tombs would be indeed small. 
Buckingham Palace would then and there have been but a shed ; the Par- 
liament Houses but light and unsubstantial structures. 

The gates of the mighty temples were closed. From pylon to pylon vast 
avenues of sphinxes lifted their mysterious heads. There were hieroglyphics 
everywhere ; everywhere were the records of glory ; everywhere ruins. 

On the side of the Libyan hills stood the Necropolis, where the priests of 
Osiris were interred. Kings slumbered there, whose names were already lost in 
the twilight of antiquity. Queens slept here, whose fame filled the world, but 
who now had not so much as a name. The kings had been conquerors ; now 
they were gods. The ancient kingdom, bounded on two sides by sky-clouding 
mountains, once stretched from the Cataracts to Mount Sinai. 

•'Everything was colossal. Here histories were written in eternal stone. A 
single palace hall, with its cornices of beaten gold, was three hundred and 
twenty-nine feet long ; and this was followed by another of nearly equal length. 
Yet the ancient splendor of the city was gone ; Thebes even now was a ruin. 

It was moonlight, — not the far-away, dim moon of the West, but an argent 
splendor, as though the Queen of Night had come down into the liquid regions 
of the air, and there floated on her throne. 

And the moon that shone on Thebes and the Plain, shone on twenty 
thousand Egyptian cities, or their ruins. 

Night wore on. 

There were sweet sounds on the Nile, — bird-notes, the call of animals. 
The Day-spring had smiled already in the face of the Sphinx at Mem- 
phis. There was a stir in the streets. The Aurora was throwing her lances 
against the darkness of the east. The contest had begun between light and 
darkness. 

A sea of fire seemed to flood the east. Millions of people filled the streets, 
and surrounded the hill-side temple of Memnon. 

Would the statue speak to the Queen of Rome, as it had spoken to the 
dead queens in the Necropolis } 

Memnon had sung to the dawn before Rome was mighty, — when Egypt 
was the world, when captive nations built her monuments, and captive 



64 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

princes drew the chariots of the Pharaohs. Rome had humbled Egypt. Would 
the Son of Eos speak to the Roman Queen, now that the grandeur of Thebes 
was passed } 

The Memnonium faced the rising sun. Its propylaeon towered majestic in 
the air, for a distance so great that the temple itself seemed a city. The 
Circus still lifted its shadowy circle in the dusky and dewy air, out of each of 
whose hundred portals two hundred chariots once rolled to battle, or so might 
have rolled. 

We have said that the city was a ruin. Thebes was believed to have been 
the oldest city on earth. It was old ere Rome was begun. When Memphis 
arose, Thebes began to decline. But though her ancient populations were 
diminished, her shadowy ruins still filled the plain and the hills. She was 
tottering to her final fall. 

Morning upon the Nile is Paradise. The air is crystal in clearness, and the 
light falls upon the wings of countless birds, who drift on the perfumes with 
throats full of song. 

Before the temple of Amenopis III., at the head of an army of decaying 
sphinxes, stood the statue of the vocal Memnon, that saluted Aurora with 
music. Cambyses had left the marks of his madness upon it, but the Memnon 
still uplifted its voice to the dawn. 

The queen and her Roman nobles came out of the palace, and stood on an 
elevation whence they beheld both the east and the god. 

The sky was now pale gold. 

Slowly the rim of the sun began to appear. All Nature seemed to rejoice. 
The rays gilded the tops of the mountains ; then they crowned the waiting 
propylaeons of the city, and the ancient temple of Memnon. 

They began to fall upon the head of the statue. 

Hark ! Do gods of stone indeed speak } Do they play upon harps } 

There falls on the air a beautiful note. Now another. Seven. 

Sabina listened in awe. The sun was now above the horizon. 

" It was like a harp-note and not a voice," said a Roman noble. 

" It is the harp of Egypt," said another. 

"It is the harp of Egypt, indeed," said an Egyptian noble. " But did ye 
not hear } the harp-strings of Egypt seem breaking." 

The harp of Memnon is broken ! the voice of the god is still. On his 
broken throne and column may still be found inscribed these words : — 

" /, Publins Balbmiis^ have heard the voice of the divine Memnon. I came in 
company zvith the Empress Sabina, at the first hour of the sun's course, tJie i^th 
year of the reign of Hadrian, the 2^th of the month of November!' 



'mv^fin ' n. 



„„iiiiilll 




CHAPTER IV. 



COST OF JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



Stoky of Semiramis and Sardanapalus. 

HAD been the intention of Mr. 
Leland to spend six months in 
travel, and to choose routes accord- 
in o; to his own moods and inclina- 
tions. He was a man of ample 
means and generous impulses, and 
after twenty years' devotion to business, he 
wished that his six months' rest should be as free 
from care as possible. 

One day, he and Charlie stepped over from 

the Golden Cross to the American Exchange, to 

see if there were any letters waiting for them, as 

several steamers had just arrived. Each had a liberal mail, and 

they sat down amid the piles of papers at the Exchange to read 

them. 

" Father," said Charlie at length, " could a boy visit Egypt and 
Palestine for five hundred dollars ? " 

"From America? I think so. If he were to take second-class 
saloon fares on the steamer, and travel second class in Europe. He 
certainly could visit Alexandria, Cairo, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the 
Jordan for that sum. Why do you ask?" 




58 ZIGZAG JO(JRNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" I have here a letter from Charlie Noble. He says that he writes 
in behalf of some of the schoolboys at Yule, How strange! He 
writes: ' Can we meet you at some Mediterranean port? Would your 
father be w^illing that we should accompany him to Cairo and Jeru- 
salem ? ' What shall I answer ? " 

Charlie took up some stamped sheets from one of the writing- 
tables, and Mr. Leland began to gather around him the circulars of 
Cook, Gaze, and other travelling agents, and of the principal lines of 
steamers and railways. 

" Say to Charlie Noble from me, ' Yes ' and ' Come.' " 

Charlie wrote, not quite knowing for whose benefit : " Father 
tells me to write ' Yes,' and ' Come.' '' 

" What shall I write next } " 

" Say, ' Meet us at Gibraltar, Genoa, Venice, or Malta.' " 

" Well." 

" Say, ' The fare to London from New York on the National line, 
and from London to New York, round-trip ticket, would be $ioo, first 
class. By taking this route you would save connecting trips between 
Liverpool and London, and London and Liverpool, and from ten to 
fourteen dollars in money.' " 

" Yes." 

" Tell them, then, — whoever them may mean, — to take second-class 
railway tickets. Cook's or Gaze's, for Venice or Genoa, at a cost of 
about thirty dollars. The lowest price from London to Alexandria, 
Egypt, by these routes is about seventy dollars. The fare from Lon- 
don to Alexandria, by way of Paris, Turin, Genoa, and Rabattino 
steamer, on the Mediterranean, is $67.85. The cost of a Cook's ticket 
to Jerusalem from London, by way of Paris, Venice, and Austrian 
Lloyd's steamer, to Alexandria and Jaffa, is $9345, second class." 

" Less than one hundred dollars," said Charlie. " So one mis^ht 2S> 
to Egypt and Palestine, or Alexandria and Jerusalem, from New York 
and return, for three hundred dollars?" 



COST OF JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



" Three hundred dollars' fare. But that would hardly be a fair 
statement of the case." 

" Could one make the trip for less than that ? " 

" One might take an intermediate passage on one of the Allan line 
of steamers from Quebec or Portland (winter), at forty dollars, and 
travel in Europe tJiij^d class, I would not advise it, certainly not for 
a boy. The education of the company he might meet would not be 
likely to be always good. 

" The Rabattino line of steamers, called also the Italian line, offer 
a fine trip for winter. These steamers sail from New York, and make 
a course so far south that ice, fog, and gales are generally avoided. 
They pass close to the Bermudas and the Azores, and are seldom 
more than three days distant from land. Let me enclose their present 
routes and rates : — 



First 
Cabin. 

To Gibraltar $90 

" Marseilles no 

" Genoa .120 

" Leghorn 123 

" Naples 130 

" Messina, Palermo, Catania 140 



FROM NEW YORK. 



Forward 
Saloon. 



$60 
70 
78 
80 

88 
95 



First Forward 

Cabin. Saloon. 

To Malta $145 $100 

" Athens (Piraeus) ... 165 118 
" Smyrna, Salonica, Darda- 
nelles 175 130 

" Constantinople, Alexandria 185 132 

" Odessa 210 136 



From Odessa $172 

" Constantinople .... 154 
" Smyrna, Salonica, Dar- 
danelles 146 

" Alexandria 138 

" Athens (Piraeus) . . . 132 

'• Trieste, Venice, Ancona 132 



TO NEW YORK. 

Second ; 
Cabin. 

$120 

no 



106 
102 
96 
96 



From Genoa, Leghorn 

" Marseilles, Brindisi 

■ Corfu, Malta . . . 
" Catania, Messina . . 
'• Palermo, Naples . . 
" Gibraltar 



First 
Cabin. 

$no 



I ro 

100 
100 
85 



Second 
Cabin. 

S80 



" One might go to the Mediterranean in one of the steamers of this 
line, and return in one of the summer steamers of the Allan line to 
Quebec, through the grand river scenery of the St. Lawrence, by way 
of the Strait of Belle Isle. The Allan line of steamers in summer are 



72 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

usually only about four days on the open ocean out of sight of land, 
and sickness in any severe form is scarcely known during these trips. 
They are three days on the St. Lawrence, where the river scenery is 
among the grandest and most picturesque in America. The officers 
on these steamers are men of high character. I would recommend 
young people to travel as much as possible either by the best lines 
from New York and Boston, or the Allan line." 

" Have the best lines from New York low rates of fares ? " 
" Some of the finest steamers have second-cabin fares. For exam- 
ple, look at these rates : — 

Anchor Line. A^ew York to Glasgow {calling at Moville). 
Saloon Fares, $60, $75, and $80. Second Cabin Fares, $30. 

Return Tickets, $110, $130, and $140. Return Tickets, $60. 

CuNARD Line. Neiv York to Liverpool {calling at Qtieenstowii). 
Saloon Fares, $60, $80, $xoo, and $125. Return Tickets, $120, $144, $180, and $220. 

GuiON Line. New York to Liverpool {calling at Queenstown^. 
Saloon Fares, $60, $80, and $100. Second Cabin, $35. 

Return Tickets, $120, $144, and $180. Return Tickets, $70. 

" One may sometimes take passage on fruit steamers direct to Sicily 
at a very low rate of fare." 

" What shall I say about the cost of travel in the Levant } " 

" The fare from Alexandria to Cairo by rail is only about five 
dollars." 

" And then ? " 

" Then? — well, if the boys come, they shall be my guests for a boat 
journey up the Nile. ' Then ?' — they will be at Cairo in sight of the 
Pyramids." 

" What will be the hotel rates ? " 

" On the Continent, $2.50 per day ; in the Levant, ^3.50. I will 
myself meet the expenses of our friends for the boat journey on the 
Nile. Say that we will be at Gibraltar on February 12 ; at Marseilles, 
Feb. 22 ; at Genoa, a few days later; and early in March at Alexan- 




^H^^ 



MERCHANT AND CAMEL. 



COST OF JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 75 

dria. Tell them to take the National line to London, and meet us at 
Genoa." 

" What is the usual cost of journeys to the Levant? " 

" About a thousand dollars." 

" Will it cost us each as much as that ? " 

" Unless your young friends should compel us to make short trips 
and use unexpected economy. Life on the Nile and journeys in Pal- 
estine are expensive. But Alexandria, Cairo, the Pyramids, Jerusalem, 
Bethlehem, and the Jordan may be visited by a tourist from America 
for five hundred dollars." 

Mr. Leland did not trust to Charlie's letter to express his good-will 
towards any pupils of the school who might wish to make with him 
an Eastern journey. He sent a cable despatch to the teacher. He 
saw that a new arrangement as to the route would have to be made in 
order to meet the limited time and means at the disposal of the new- 
comers ; but this he was willing to do. 

In the mean time, as a preparation for the journey in the Levant, 
Mr. Leland and Charlie read Herodotus and Diodorus and other an- 
cient books. Among the stories that proved very interesting to 
Charlie was that of — 



SEMIRAMIS AND SARDANAPALUS, 

THE FIRST QUEEN AND THE LAST KING OF NINEVEH. 

In very ancient times there dwelt at Ascalon, in Syria, a very beautiful 
woman who was reputed to be a goddess. She became enamoured of a fair 
Syrian youth, and received him as her husband. A daughter was born, — 
Semiramis. 

But the mother became ashamed of her affection for the young Syrian, and 
seems to have desired again the reputation of a goddess rather than that of a 
frail human being; so she murdered her husband, and left her infant daughter 
m a secluded place to die. 



76 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 




WINGED BULL FROM NINEVEH. 

Syria was full of doves. When these dwellers among the rocks came drift- 
ing down on their white wings into the solitude where the infant had been left 
to die, they pitied the helpless outcast, and, instructed by some good spirit, they 
fed it. They continued to feed it daily. So the infant Semiramis was nursed 
by the doves of Syria. 

A Syrian shepherd at last discovered the infant, and brought her to the 
royal shepherd, whose name was Simmas. He took her into his household, 
and named her Semiramis. 

Thus she grew up. She became famous, as she ripened into womanhood, 
for her beauty. She won the heart of Omnes, one of the king's friends and 




HANGING GARDENS OK BABYLON. 



COST OF JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 79 

generals, and he married her. She followed him to the army, and at the siege 
of Bactra she planned an assault that carried the citadel. She led the assault 
in person, and mounted the walls in triumph. 

She was a heroine now, and regarded as one of the bravest and most 
beautiful women in the world. Ninus, the Assyrian king, admired her 
bravery and her beauty, and desired to make her his queen. She married 
him ; and Omnes, her former husband, was so deeply wounded by her desertion 
of him that he took his own life. 

She was queen now, and her fame became so great as to shadow the glory 
of Ninus. One day, according to the ancient story, she came to the king 
with a request. 

" O king, I have a favor to ask of thee." 

"Thou hast but to ask it, and it shall be thine. What wouldst thou, 
Semiramis .'* " 

"I would be Queen ot Asia for five days." 

The request was granted. No sooner had she assumed the royal power 
than she cast the king into prison, and proclaimed herself the sovereign of all 
his empire. The beautiful Semiramis, like her mother, seems to have been a 
very dangerous wife to have. 

If the last tradition be true, she still seems to have honored Ninus after 
his death ; for she erected a tomb to his memory nine stadia high, which was 
regarded as one of the wonders of the East. 

Semiramis was a warrior. She was one of those ancient monarchs who 
conquered the world. Rameses II. (Sesostris) was but an imitator of the 
Assyrian queen. She not only subdued nearly all Asia, but conquered Egypt 
and Ethiopia. Her only failure was in India ; her invasions with this excep- 
tion were triumphal marches. 

She founded Babylon, constructed the hanging gardens of Media, built 
numerous cities, and erected some of the most extraordinary works of the 
East. 

She reigned forty-two years. • 

Her death was like her infancy. The doves nursed her in the shepherd's 
country ; and her spirit, as it departed, took the form of a dove, and so mounted 
to the sky and the abodes of the immortal gods. So says mythology ; but in 
the light of to-day the dove would seem to be a very inappropriate emblem of 
the false heart and ambitious life of Semiramis. 

According to Ctesias, the Assyrian empire of Nineveh lasted thirteen 
hundred and six years. It was founded by Ninus and Semiramis, and was 
reigned over by thirty effeminate kings, who succeeded one another in the 



8o 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



relation of father and son in uninterrupted order, — a most marvellous record of 
history, could it be accepted as strictly true. By " effeminate " is meant kings 
without martial spirit, — devotees to pleasure rather than to ambition, to the arts 
of peace rather than to the arts of war. None of these kings, except the last, 
seems to have inherited the heroic spirit of Semiramis. 




PALACE AT NINEVEH. 



This last king was Sardanapalus. He began to reign like the others, and 
became the most famous of all for indolence, dissipation, and luxury. His 
sloth and slavery to his passions were so great that he refused to see his sub- 
jects at all. Thus he remained hidden in his splendid palace, devoting all his 
time to dissipation and pleasure. 

His kingdom was governed by satraps, and he appeared to have lost all 
interest in affairs of State. At length the satraps and the people became 



|i,,|,i]:pj-|i!iiiiii!Hi|"iVi|^ 







COST OF JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 83 

indignant at the condition of the court and the empire. The Satrap of Media 
resolved to throw off his allegiance to such a weak and characterless monarch. 
He raised an army, and, supported by the Chaldean priesthood, advanced 
against Sardanapalus in Nineveh. 

A change came, over the monarch. The spirit of Semiramis seems to have 
been fettered within him, and by a tremendous struggle he broke the silken 
bonds. He rose superior to his weak and profitless habits and the inherited 
traits of his ancestors, and appeared before his army as a leader and warrior. 
He defeated his enemies in two great battles, but was finally besieged in 
Nineveh. 

After a heroic struggle he saw that his hour had come and that Nineveh 
must fall. He ordered a funeral pile to be made, and he placed upon it the 
royal insignia and the treasures of his empire. He gathered around him his 
wives, generals, and friends. He then ordered the palace to be set on fire. 

From a high place in the palace he saw the flames mounting around him. 
He saw the monuments of thousands of years changing into smoke, and the 
smoke clouding the air above him. He offered a libation to the gods from 
his golden wine-cup, dashed the cup to the earth, and with his favorite wife 
threw himself upon the pyre. Thus ended the Assyrian monarchy of Ninus. 



CHAPTER V. 




TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. 
Story of Don Juan. — Hannibal. 

LELAND invited Wyllys Winn to meet 
him in Alexandria early in March, and 
to make with the company the journey 
to the ruins of Thebes. 

" I would like to do so," said Wyllys. 
" I had already thought of visiting the 
American School of Classical Studies 
at Athens during the year. Frank Gray, 
one of the old members of the Zigzag Club, is there, and he has 
invited me to visit him. But I must first hear from America, as my 
father pays my bills abroad. I do not dare to speak confidently," he 
added. " To visit the ruins of Thebes has been a dream for years. 
To visit them with you and Charlie and good old Ali Bedair would be 
to me the most delightful thing I can imagine. The experiences of 
which we dream in boyhood come true in later years. Thebes — I can 
shut my eyes and see it — there came to me an impression that I 
would one day behold its ruins, when I was studying ancient history 
at Yule." 

" I know Professor Goodwin of Cambridge, Mass., who is now the 
director of the American School at Athens," said Mr. Leland. 



TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



85 



" And I know Frank Gray," said Charlie. " I am going to write to 
him, and tell him about our plans for the Nile journey." 

Late in January, Mr. Leland and Charlie left London for Liver- 
pool, expecting to meet Ali Bedair at Alexandria early in March, 
and hoping that Wyllys Winn would join them there at the same 
time. 

Liverpool is a city of ships. Her docks are five or more miles 
long. The city of ships on the sea is almost as large as the city of 
houses on the land. 

It is a city of strangers. One may wander along the quays for 
hours amid crowds of men and heaps of merchandise, and nowhere 
in the world feel more utterly alone. 

It is an event to stand near Victoria's Tower, and watch the rising 
tide of the Mersey, and the ships that wait outside of the harbor for 
the rising tide, in order to cross the Harbor Bar and come safely 
into port. The flags of all nations unite in the long commercial 
procession of peace, and a hundred anchors drop in the crimson 
twilight of the morning and evening under the gray walls of the 
salt-sea town. 

" There is nothing to see at Liverpool," is a common expression. 
There is everything to see ; in Liverpool one may see the world. 

Mr. Leland and Charlie left Liverpool for Cadiz, going out of the 
winter gloom of the rugged English coast into the mild atmosphere 
and winds of the South. The steamer was booked to stop several 
days at Cadiz, and it was the intention of Mr. Leland to visit Seville 
while the ship should be detained at this port. 

The winter voyage was somewhat tiresome. Charlie employed his 
time in reading ancient history, in writing letters to his friends in 
Boston and to Frank Gray at Athens. 

Mr. Leland took with him a good supply of books which he wished 
Charlie to read during the long and broken voyage. Among them 
were Kitto's History of Palestine, Kitto's Cyclopaedia, Smith's Classical 



86 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Dictionary, Layard's Works, Benoni, Gage's Palestine, Historical and 
Descriptive, Reland's Palestina, Arnold's Palestina, Boat-Life in Egypt, 
Herodotus, Diodorus, Abbott's History of Napoleon Bonaparte, Keith's 
Works, Homer, Virgil, Byron's Sardanapalus, Life of Alexander 
the Great, Lands of the Saracens, and a part of Abbott's Juvenile 
Histories. 

At Cadiz our tourists were already in one of the ancient provinces 
of the Levant. 

Cadiz was founded before Rome. \\\ the times of the Spanish 
explorers it became a very important city, and gathered the riches of 
the Americas; when Spain lost her possessions- in the Western 
World, it declined. 

Steamships and railways again change the fortunes of Cadiz. A 
thousand ships now enter her harbor yearly. She strongly feels the 
impulses of that far Western World that her mariners discovered. 

Seville — Sevilla, the ancient Hispalis — is situated on the left 
bank of the Guadalquivir, about one hundred miles from Cadiz. The 
traveller on a steamer that touches for a few days at Cadiz can easily 
visit Seville, by boat or rail. 

The Moors built Sevilla from the ruins of Hispalis, and the Moor- 
ish walls and the outlines of the old city of Oriental splendors remain. 
The traveller here finds himself at once in an atmosphere of romance. 
The city is in the form of a circle. It is surrounded by walls that once 
contained one hundred and sixty-six towers, but now contain about 
sixty, and that once were pierced with fifteen or more historic gates. 
The old Moorish houses still blaze in the eye of the noontide sun, 
and seem to be beyond the reach of decay. 

The city contains one hundred squares. We have spoken in an- 
other volume of its cathedral. Its palace rivalled the Alhambra. Tiie 
Hall of the Ambassadors of this palace is one of the marvels of art of 
the world. 

Mr. Leland, as we have said, was greatly interested in humane and 




TNTERIOR OF A PALACE, SEVILLE. 



TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



89 



missionary efforts. When a traveller visits a new city, he always seeks 
to find there himself, or some expression of his own thoughts, views, 
and purposes. Thus travellers see many different cities in the same 
city, and Mr. Leland found in Seville what few other transient visitors 
would have so readily seen. 



HIS OWN GHOST. — DON JUAN. 

"I have always been interested," said Mr. Leland, in giving an account of an 
incident at Seville, " in the cure of a malady that is worse than any form of physi- 
cal disease. It is the misfortune of a depraved imagination and a will weakened 
by sin. Friends have said to me, ' When a man's will power is gone, the man is 
lost.' I have always pitied the morally diseased, and have always been in- 
tensely interested in cases of moral recovery, and have asked myself, ' Is the will 
power ever lost } ' 

" Before I left America, while waiting" for the sailing of the ship from New 
York, I attended a funeral such as that great city had never seen before. It 
was a golden September day. The church in which the services were to be held 
was crowded. The streets in the vicinity were filled with waiting people. 

" In the great throng that crowded church and street were ministers, philan- 
thropists, merchants, thieves, confidence men, women with painted faces, children 
in rags. Before the pulpit, amid the sweetness of flowers, lay the dead form of 
a man who was once a river-thief On the black drapery of the wall back of the 
pulpit were these words, the last words of him whose life the crowd had come 
to honor, — 

" ' It is all right ! ' 

"At the age of thirteen this man had landed from an emigrant ship in the 
great, crowded, wicked city. Alone in the wilderness of homes, he made the 
acquaintance and friendship of the low, the idle, and the vicious. He became a 
prize-fighter, a drunkard, a river-thief, and for his crimes was sentenced to Sing 
Sing. 

" But the life he led troubled his conscience. Weary and sick of sin, he 
sought to escape it. In his seeking he found good men ready to help him. 
Soon there sprung up in his heart an almost patriarchal faith, — a faith that the 
Spirit of God was able to change his sinful nature ; that a new life, through a 
spiritual renewal, was possible to him. 



^O ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" His faith had saved him. It saved others. He established a mission in 
the most criminal and dangerous part of the city, and began to preach there the 
one doctrine of moral recovery through acceptance of a divine Master and an 
inward experience of the Spirit ot God. 

" Year by year the work went on. Some of the most abandoned criminals 
were led to give themselves to this man's Master and to enter upon the new 
Hfe. These experiences multiplied, and became an influence. People wondered 
at its power. The story of the mission of Jerry McAuley filled the city and the 
country. The mission itself became a monument of faith. 

" And so on that calm September day thoughtful men gathered among the 
most depraved people, to respect the memory of the dead river-thief. 

" Faith has her conquests, age by age; and such a man is a conqueror. Tears 
fell like rain on his grave, and thousands of silent hearts and prayers pronounced 
over it their benedictions, and thus testified to the power of his life. 

" I was deeply interested in this case. I thought of it often on the voyage, 
and as often asked myself, ' Is this faith possible to all ? ' 

" On arriving at Seville, I visited the Cathedral, heard its great organ of 
five thousand pipes, and then inquired for the Charity Hospital, which I had been 
told was one of the most creditable monuments of the heart of the beautiful 
city. 

" I had heard also of the wonderful paintings of this place; and the indefinite 
information that I had acquired, led me to search for the facts of its origin and 
history. 

"A strange character was revealed to me, — one that I had known through 
poetry, romance, and music, since I was a child, but the true lesson of whose 
life I had never seen clearly until now. 

" It was Don Juan. 

" I had always associated the name with that of a gay rake, and not with a 
redeemed and transfigured life. 

" There lived in Seville, about the year 1671, a most profligate man by the 
name of Don Miguel de Manara Vecentello de Leca. He was a slave of his evil 
passions, an evil influence wherever he appeared ; fascinating the young by his 
beauty, gayety, and display of wealth, and heartlessly alluring them to ruin. He 
was given the name of Don Juan. 

" One night, according to the received story, he left a scene of debauchery 
at a late hour, to return to his home. He was alone, and the streets were silent. 
The night was mild ; a dim moon shone on the Guadalquivir, — the purple-silver 
moonlight of Andalusia. 



TO THE MEDITERRANEAIV. 



93 



"There was something alarming to him in the silence of the city, something 
awful to him in the thought of his being alone. 

" A strange power seemed to control him. Suddenly everything about him 
appeared to change, and his life to pass into a vision. 

" In the street rose a shadowy procession. It consisted of monks, of the 




THE FUNERAL PROCESSION. 



order of the Brothers of Compassion, The forms were ghostly and silent. 
They were bearing a body to burial. 

"Whose, in silence and the night.'' What frail life had been so hopelessly 
bad as to invite oblivion before the body had been covered by the grave .-' 

" His curiosity was excited. He hurried past the shadowy and silent forms, 
and stood by the bier, his heart throbbing in pity for the life that had gone out 
so hopelessly. 



94 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" He drew the covering from the bier. The moonhght fell upon the face of 
the dead. He knew the man, and started back. 

" Was it some victim that he had brought to ruin } No ; the dead face on the 
bier was that of himself. 

" The procession passed on, bearing himself. He followed it, his only 
mourner. 

"On, on it went toward the Potter's F'ield. Don Miguel began inwardly to 
pray to be delivered from himself. 

" The vision faded ; but it had wrought a complete change in the desires, 
purposes, and character of the man. 

" His one question now was, ' Is there any good thing possible to a character 
like mine .'' ' 

" He possessed a great fortune. This he at once consecrated to the purpose 
of founding a hospital for the poor. 

" He was a lover of art, and this passion he also resolved to change from evil 
into good. He employed the greatest painters — among them, Murillo — to 
adorn the new hospital. It rose a treasure-house of art above the Guadalquivir, 
and stands crowned to-day among the most useful and invaluable institutions of 
Spain." 



From Seville Mr. Leland and Charlie went to Granada, and thence 
to Gibraltar, where they were to find the steamer. 

We cannot give space to this Spanish journey. The father and 
son could but remember the works of Irving, and pity the fate of 
Boabdil the Unlucky, as they turned away from beautiful Granada, 
and were carried by a swifter steed than the Moorish monarch's 
toward the sea. 

At Gibraltar the Mediterranean lay before them, foaming in wintry 
restlessness ; and beyond lay the coast of Africa. 

Visions of the east began to rise even here. Along the cloudy 
shores in the dim distance marched the armies of Hamilcar, of the 
.Hasdrubals, and of Hannibal. The proud navies of Carthage here 
rode upon the sea. 

The story of Dido came back like a dream : the sudden rise of 
Carthage, and the hostility of the city to Rome. 






im 



■s?^; r^T-. . 




HANNIBAL SWEARING ETERNAL HATRED TO THE ROMANS. 



TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



97 



Then, in a vision, the conquest of Spain b}^ the new city of 
Afric ; the First Punic War ; the defeat of the Carthaginians by 
the Romans. 




HANNIBAL ON AN EXPEDITION. 



Hamilcar brings his young son Hannibal to the sacred altar, and 
compels the boy to swear eternal hatred to the Romans. 

The boy aspires to humble Rome. How ? By the way of Spain. 

7 



98 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

He comes to manhood. His army clouds the African coast, and 
his navy darkens the sea. 

From Carthage to Spain he begins a march in which he is to 
ascend to the clouds on the stairs of the Alps, and thence descend 
to Italy like a thunderbolt; from Spain to Gaul; from Gaul to the 
Alps ; up the Alps to the sky ; from the sky to the glowing provinces 
of Rome. 

Over this sea, too, departed Boabdil the Unfortunate, the last of the 
Moors, when Spain reconquered Granada, and won a throne that was 
not to limit its power to Andalusia, but to carry it to a new world, 
and there plant the banners of Aragon and Castile. 



TOWARD THE SEA. 

There was weeping in Granada on that eventful day : 
One king in triumph entered in ; one vanquished rode away. 
Down from the Alhambra's minarets was every crescent flung, 
And the cry of " Santiago ! " through the jewelled palace rung. 

And singing, singing, singing. 

Were the nightingales of Spain ; 

But the Moorish monarch, lonely, 

The cadences heard only. 

" They sadly sing," said he ; 

'■ They sadly sing to me." 

And through the groves melodious 

He rode toward the sea. 

There was joy in old Granada on that eventful day : 

One king in triumph entered in ; one slowly rode away. 

Up the Alcala singing marched the gay cavaliers ; 

Gained was the Moslem empire of twice three hundred years. 

And singing, singing, singing, 

Were the nightingales of Spain ; 

But the Moorish monarch, lonely. 

The cadences heard only. 

'' They sadly sing," said he ; 

" They sadly sing to me. 

All the birds of Andalusia ! " 

And he rode toward the sea. 



TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. 

Through the groves of Alpuxarrus. on that eventful day, 
The vanquished king rode slowly and tearfully away. 
He paused upon the Xenil, and saw Granada fair 
Wreathed with the sunset's roses in palpitating air. 

And sincrinj;, singinjj, singing, 

Were the nightingales of Spain , 

But the Moorish monarch, lonely, 

The cadences heard only. 

" They sadly sing," said he ; 

" They sadly sing to me, 

The groves of Andalusia ! " 

He rode toward the sea. 

The Verga heaped with flowers below the city lay, 

And faded in the sunset, as he slowly rode away ; 

And he paused again a moment amid the cavaliers. 

And saw the golden palace shine through the mist of tears. 

And singing, singing, singing, 

Were the nightingales of Spain ; 

But the Moorish monarch, lonely, 

The cadences heard only. 

" They sadly sing," said he ; 

" They sadly sing to me : 

Farewell, O Andalusia ! " 

And he rode toward the sea. 

Past the gardens of Granada rode Isabella fair, 

As twilight's parting roses fell on the sea of air : 

She heard the hsping fountains, and not the Moslem's sighs ; 

She saw the sun-crowned mountains, and not the tear-wet eyes. 

" Sing on," she said, " forever, 

O nightingales of Spain ! 

Xenil nor Guadalquivir 

Will he ne'er see again. 

Ye sweetly sing," said she, 

" Ye sweetly sing to me." 

She rode toward the palace ; 

He rode toward the sea. 



99 



CHAPTER VL 




TO THE PYRAMIDS. 
Alexandria. — Cairo. — Story of Sesostris. — The Mysterious Pilgrims. 

the winter sea to Majorca, — an island lovely at all 
seasons of the year, bright in the light of 
a sky of eternal blue, and warm in the air 
of eternal spring ; thence to Genoa, — 
Genoa the superb, — presenting to the 
seer .a picture as of hills white with pal- 
; to Malta, where we would love to linger 
recall the romances of the Knights of 
St. John ; thence to Alexandria, the last part of the voyage in view 
of the African coast. 

The incidents of this voyage alone might fill a book. They 
filled a month in time ; for the steamer remained some days at 
each port. At Genoa our tourists made an excursion to Geneva, 
a car-ride of only about fourteen hours, and beheld the winter 
Alps. At Malta they visited the ruined fortresses of what was one of 
the most powerful and romantic orders of knighthood of the Middle 
Ages. 

They approached the Greek city of Alexandria at nightfall, but did 
not land in the night A lighthouse threw its rays into the darkness 
of the March ni^ht; but it was not the famous . Pharos of old, 



TO THE PYRAMIDS. lOI 

which was four hundred feet high, and blazed like a star over the 
city and sea for sixteen hundred years, and was esteemed one of the 
wonders of the world. 

In the morning Alexandria, the gate of Egypt, was full in view, — 
to all outward appearance a European city, excepting the slender 
minarets, whose arms seemed reaching to heaven. 

" Egypt ! " said Mr. Leland to Charlie. 

" What do we owe to Egypt 1 " asked Charlie, whose Western 
training made him practical in the very sight of the land of stu- 
pendous mysteries. 

" She nurtured the Hebrew race in its infancy ; to the Hebrews 
we owe the development of moral truth." 

" Yes." 

" She educated Moses, the moral law-giver of the world." 

" Yes." 

" Christ himself was cradled in Egypt, and Christianity in its 
childhood was educated in the Greek schools of Alexandria." 

" She has been a kind of foster-mother," said Charlie. 

" St. Mark carried the Gospel to Alexandria, and Egypt was the 
first nation in the world to accept Christianity." 

" Do you suppose that we shall find the old interpreter Ali Bedair 
on the quay } " 

" Yes ! " said Mr. Leland, confidently ; " he will be the first to 
greet us." 

Mr. Leland was right. On the landing stood the tall patriarchal 
form of the old interpreter, and near him three young men were 
waving white handkerchiefs. Who could they be 1 

" Frank Gray," said Charlie, as the boat drew near, — " Frank Gray, 
from Athens ; Wyllys Winn, from London ; and — Charlie Noble, 
I do believe ! What but a desire to see the world could have sent 
him here ? I am glad to see one face from Boston. He is the $500 
boy." 



I02 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" A new Zigzag Club has come together," said Mr. Leland. 
" You will have to include me." 

The meeting of the six was most joyous ; and no one appeared to 
exhibit a warmer interest in another than gracious old Ali Bedair did 
in all. 

" Heaven bless you i " he said. " ' Deem nothing impossible : every 
man has his day, and every man's expectations shall some day be 
fulfilled.' " 

ALEXANDRIA. — CAIRO. — THE GREAT PYRAMID. 

" My father will leave nothing for me to do," said the boy Alex- 
ander, as he counted the conquests of his father Philip of Macedon. 

The boy fed his imagination on the Iliad ; and a boy's life usually 
follows the courses of the heroes about whom he loves best to read. 

Al.exander conquered the world, and died at thirty-two. He left 
Persepolis, the wonder of Asia, in ashes ; but he founded Alexandria, 
and there his body found rest at last in a coffin of gold. 

The conquests of Alexander filled the world with the thought and 
the literature of Greece. Alexandria became a favorite resort of the 
Greeks, and the literary and ecclesiastical centre of Greek literature, — 
the new Athens of the Eastern World. It was the Greek capital of 
conquered Egypt, the mistress of the Nile, the crowned city of the 
arts and arms of the Mediterranean. It was founded in the autumn 
of B.C. 332. 

Before it rose the Pharos, the star of the sea. Its streets were long 
colonnades ; its library, the greatest of ancient times. 

The ancient city is dead, and buried deep amid the sands of the 
Nile. The so-called Pompey's Pillar is its solitary monument. The 
picturesque city of to-day has few connecting links with the past. It 
has nearly a quarter of a million of inhabitants ; and more than four 
thousand ships drop their anchors yearly in its harbor. 




ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



TO THE PYRAMIDS. IO5 

Our tourists spent one night at Alexandria, at the Hotel Abbat. 
In the morning they left the city of the Ptolemies for Cairo, by the 
railway that connects the two cities, intending to spend some days here 
on their return. 

" It seems indeed strange to be travelling in cars in Egypt," said 
Charlie. 

" Why.? " asked his father. 

" There is something unhistorical about it. Look at those Arabian 
guards and porters dressed like Englishmen. How much was the 
fare ? " 

" About four dollars, second class." 

" Travelling from the city of the Ptolemies to grand Cairo and the 
Pyramids on an English railway-carriage, with guards in English 
clothes ; second class ; fare about four dollars — I never dreamed of 
Egypt in that way ; it seems to me ridiculous." 

Our tourists had taken a lunch with them from Alexandria. When 
they had finished eating, the descendants of the subjects of the Ptole- 
mies gathered around them with mournful faces to beg what was left. 
This was not poetry. Our tourists had seen but little poetry in Egypt 
thus far, except the flower-carpeted fields, and the deep liquid blue of 
the sky. 

The white city of minarets at length rose under the celestial blue, 
a picture standing against the gold curtains of the air. Donkeys, 
instead of horse-cars or cabs, were waiting to take them to the hotel, 
or wherever they might wish to go. 

The Pyramids, like piles of gloom, rose in sight amid the dusky 
gold of the afternoon air. The boys were impatient to go to them at 
once. These structures had filled their dreams with wonder ; and 
now that they rose before their very vision, they could not help 
exclaiminQT, — 

" Donkeys for the Pyramids." 

" If you cannot wait, go," said Mr. Leland. " I cannot go now; I 



I06 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

must make an arrangement for a dahableh [Nile boat] for Thebes, and 
a dragoman to take charge of us and our journey." 

The boys were told by the Arabs that it would take but four or five 
hours to visit the Pyramids, and the story seemed plausible. It was 
now getting somewhat late in the day for the journey. 

If our young tourists were disappointed in their first impressions 
of Egypt, all was changed as they went out of Cairo. The city itself 
at a little distance seemed unreal, — a picture on the air, a vision, 
a poem. The minarets of Cairo are the most beautiful in the Levant. 
They are of immense height, slender, and graceful, and beautiful in 
the alternating colors of red and white stone. 

The Pyramids ! There were three, but the largest was so gigantic 
as to draw the eye wholly to itself. It seemed to grow until it shut 
out the sky. The Arabs chattered indifferently as they approached 
it, but the boys were silent. There was something that closed their 
lips in the awe-inspiring presence of this ancient monster of stone. 

This Pyramid — the tomb of Cheops, also called the Great Pyra- 
mid — must have been between three or four thousand years old when 
the Star led the Magi to Bethlehem, and the Gospel brought new light 
to mankind. It is his/her than the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, and 
its base is some seven hundred and sixty-four feet square. The tomb- 
chamber is reached by a passage three hundred and twenty feet long. 
It required the work of one hundred thousand men for thirty, and, 
according to some archaeologists, fifty years, to bring its immense angles 
to the apex, and thus complete this the most stupendous tomb ever 
erected by human hands. 

The face of the Pyramid, which at a little distance appeared like a 
smooth inclined surface, suddenly changed. It now seemed to be an 
immense staircase, a threshold to the sky. 

" Up } " asked the Arabs. 

" Can we go up? " 

" Up," said the Arabs, pointing skyward. 




AN EGYPTIAN VILLA. 



TO THE PYRAMIDS. 



lOQ 



The boys pointed up. They were seized by the hands of their 
Arab guides, and pulled upward, step over step. They stood on the 
last steps at last, and before them lay Egypt in the blaze of the late 
afternoon, airy Cairo, the Nile, the lesser Pyramids, and the Sphinx. 
They were standing on the tomb of a monarch who ruled in the 
infancy of the world. 




BRICK PYRAMID OF FAIOUM. 



Darkness came on suddenly after the sunset. When the boys 
returned to Cairo, a new wonder made them feel as though they were 
in Europe again : the streets were lighted with gas. 

The next day, in the care of Ali Bedair the Interpreter, the whole 
party visited the Sphinx. 



The boys had asked to be called early in the 



Thev need 



no ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

hardly have made the request. They were awakened by human voices 
that seemed like bells in the air, saying, as translated into English, — 

"God is God. Prayer is better than sleep. Allah! Allah! 
Allah!" 

It was a voice from the minaret. 

" God is God, — there is no God but God." 

As the boys stepped out of Shepheard's Hotel, a novel sight 
awaited them. There wxre eight or more Arabs, with sleepy little 
donkeys, all of them urging with the utmost vehemence an English 
lady and gentleman to employ them. Their attention was at once 
turned to the new party ; and their faces lighted up with expectation 
when they saw that it consisted largely of boys. 

Presently Ali Bedair appeared, and addressed to them a few mys- 
terious words. The noise subsided ; and soon the party, on six little 
donkeys, were on their way towards the Sphinx. 

The rising sun shone full in the face of the wonder, as it had done 
for thousands of years. But for its chipped face, the head would have 
been as beautiful as it was majestic. The sand had been dug away 
from its pedestal, like the throwing aside of a garment. 

" What was the Sphinx ? " asked Wyllys Winn of Ali Bedair. 

" What is the Sphinx } " asked Charlie at the same time. 

The others made inquiries by looks, and waited for an answer. 

" A lion with the head of a woman, my boys." 

" Who made it .? " 

"A Pharaoh." 

"Why.?" 

" Do you not see what the raised head is facing ?" 

" The east ! " said Wyllys. 

" The sun ! " said Charlie. 

" The sunrise ! " said Frank Gray. 

" We have come late," said Ali Bedair. " Early in the morning 
her face was illumined by the Aurora. For thousands of years she 



TO THE PYRAMIDS. 



113 



has been waiting for the dawn. Mornings have come and mornings 
have gone, and blessed mankind, but still she watches. She said to 
old Egypt what the Book of Job said to the Hebrews : ' The world 
knows nothing, God rules for the best; trust and be silent' " 

" Was the Sphinx a goddess } " asked Charlie. 

" No ; a god." 

" With a woman's head ? " 

" Yes. Harmachis." 

" Who was Harmachis ? " 

" Horas on the horizon." He added, sagely: "Light conquers 
darkness ; it is an emblem of the power that overcomes sin and death. 
The Sphinx was erected as a temple of the Light, — the Dawning 
of Day." 

" A temple ? " asked Charlie. 

" Yes. In the ages long ago, innumerable worshippers at sun- 
rise ascended the steps to an altar that stood on an inlaid pave- 
ment between the mighty paws of the giant. The sky flashed and 
flamed. The darkness became thin, and rolled away. Then the sun 
blazed on Egypt, and here rose the chants of the forgotten priests of 
lost temples and palaces. The Sphinx was the idol of the Rising 
Sun." 

Such was the old man's view. It was poetic and fitted the hour, 
and the boys were pleased to accept it. It is the view that is 
generally received. 

The figure once stood high above the sands. It measures some 
sixty-four feet from the crown of the head to the paws, but its pedestal 
is largely buried in the sand. 

Before we proceed farther with our narrative, it may be well to 
give some account of Egypt's greatest hero, whose name is associated 
with her most stupendous monuments. 



114 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



SESOSTRIS. 

Among the earliest conquerors of the world was Sesostris, or Rameses the 
Great. His fame once awed the nations, and his name still leads the records 
on the crumbling monuments of Egypt. He is often spoken of in history as 
Rameses H., and sometimes as Rameses-Sesostris. 

His youth was heroic, and he was educated to ambition. It was the pur- 
pose of his father to train his son to be a conqueror. It was a period of grand 
dynasties ; Egypt was the queen of nations, and the house of Rameses seemed' 
to have dreamed that this boy would one day win universal empire, and chain 
the captives of all nations to his car of triumph. 

The boy inherited the ambitions of his ancestors. In his eye conquest was 
glory ; he hoped one day to fill the world with the fame of his splendid achieve- 
ments in arts and arms, and write his name on monuments that would never 
perish. 

His father ordered that all the male children that were born on the same 
day as his son, should be brought to the palace and educated with him in heroic 
exercises. When asked in regard to his reason for granting his son so many 
companions, he would answer, — 

" That they may be true to him in war." 

The old Egyptian placed a high value on the power of youthful friendship, 
and his judgment proved to be correct. 

So Sesostris grew up amid noble friendships, in a school of heroes. Egypt 
now was a nation of palaces and treasure-houses. The air was dai-kened by 
stupendous monuments, and gorgeous and sublime rituals filled the temples of 
the gods. 

When Sesostris and his young friends came to manhood, the monarch sent 
them at the head of an army into Arabia to test the results of their martial 
training. Sesostris and his young generals conquered Arabia. The old mon- 
arch then sent them into Western Africa on a like expedition. They subdued 
the West, and returned in triumph. 

Sesostris ascended the throne. He divided Egypt into thirty-six provinces, 
and appointed a governor over each, and then began to make preparations to 
fulfil the dream of his ancestors, and make Egypt the mistress of the world. 

He began to gather his army. It was a dark, glittering, fearful host. His 
war-chariots numbered twenty-seven thousand ; his foot-soldiers six hundred 



TO THE PYRAMIDS. 



117 



thousand. His fleet, which he brought into line on the shores of the Red Sea, 
consisted of four hundred ships. 

Now he and his young warriors swept forth from the Nile, and began to 
shatter the affrighted armies that gathered to oppose them. Sesostris con- 




RAMESES. 



quered Ethiopia, then all Asia to the Ganges ; he then crossed over to Europe, 
and made a conquest of Thrace. 

Wherever he went, Sesostris left the monuments of his conquests and glory ; 
these were called Stelae. They were pillars of stone, simple, but as he supposed 
imperishable ; and all of them were made to testify to the unwilling nations the 



i8 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



power of Rameses. His army moved on, desolating the world for nine years, 
leaving the stelae behind them. 

The triumph of Sesostris, on his return to Egypt, was the greatest of ancient 
times. The captives of all nations were chained to his triumphal car. He had 
robbed the world of treasures, and he brought back a great army of slaves. 

Having conquered the world, it was now his ambition to fill Egypt with 
temples, palaces, and monuments. Gigantic structures arose, and Thebes be- 
came the wonder of the world, and the monument of his achievements. 




MEDINET, COURT OF RAMESES- 

Amid all this success and temporal splendor, his eyes began to grow dim. 
He could no longer see, as of old, the monuments and their inscriptions, the 
temples and the palaces. The world grew dark to him, — the light of day, and 
the glories of the land to which he had given his life and his heart. 

Sesostris became blind. 

His proud spirit and imperious self-will could not endure the misfortune and 
humiliation. Was fate stronger than the spirit that had subdued the world .? 
Could calamity find him, and circumstance bind him, like a common man } 



TO THE PYRAMIDS. 121 

The world was lost to him now, all dark, and he no longer desired to live. 
What was all the winged glory of Egypt to a king without eyes ? 

Sesostris ended his life by his own hand, after a long reign of sixty-six years. 

The earth has swallowed up the stete that marked his triumphal marches. 
They are gone from Syria, Ionia, and Thrace. Thebes is dust. The morning 
Memnon is dead to the ear of the world. The name of Rameses is indeed found 
on the ruins of the stupendous monuments of the period of ICgypt's splendor and 
power, but it is the adornment of broken columns or crumbling stone. The 
traveller reads it with the reflection that the imperishable temples and palaces 
and monuments of life are not material things, but structures of the soul. The 
simple philosophy of Paul, in his poverty, humiliation, and wanderings, outweighs 
them all : "The things that are unseen are eternal." 



THE MYSTERIOUS PILGRIMS. 

Ancient Memphis bclicld the sun rise and set on the Pyramids for four 
thousand years. The city is now a graveyard ; nought remains but her 
monuments. 

Cairo, that succeeded Memphis, though built on the other side of the Nile, 
is a child among the Egyptian cities ; a child in age, in stature, in thought, in 
development and achievement. 

Nearly nineteen hundred years ago, when ancient Memphis was still in her 
magnificence, a pilgrim family came travelling towards the Nile. It consisted 
of a patriarchal man, a virgin, and an infant child. 

It had long been prophesied that one day a Child would be born of a 
Virgin, that his advent should be made known by a Star, and that when this 
event should take place, the sun-gods of Egypt should crumble and fall. 

" A Star shall rise out of Jacob," said the Hebrew seer. 

" A Star shall rise out of Jacob," said Zoroaster. 

The Magi had watched and waited for the rising of that Star for a thousand 
years. 

The pilgrims journeyed by night. They came from Bethlehem, the 
ancient home of Benjamin, of Ruth and David. They may have passed the 
tomb of the patriarchs, at Hebron, and trod in the ways over which Moses led 
their ancestors in ever memorable days. 

Quietly they came to the Nile, and found protection in the city in the 
shadows of the Pyramids. 



122 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

The Nile was lovely then. Its fields were paved with the lotus ; it fed and 
perfumed Rome with roses, and the fruits of the world burdened its banks. 

The patriarch and the Virgin did not announce whence they came, or why, 
or whither they were going. 

They bore with them an infant King. The Child slept in the shadows of 
the Pyramids ; and Memphis from that time began to crumble, as the seers had 
foretold.' Yet Egypt did not know when it came or when it departed, or that 
the perfumes of the lilies of the Nile had been breathed by One who was to 
set up a spiritual kingdom that should fill the world, and grow, when Memphis 
was dust. 

The pilgrims may have tarried here three years. They silently came, 
lived in silence, and as silently went away. The earliest objects to fill the 
eyes of the Child with wonder must have been the Pyramids. _ 

The Child grew. He preached a new gospel of salvation, and gave his 
life for men. He ascended to heaven, having declared to his followers that he 
would reign forever through the Holy Spirit. 

Egypt, that was the first nation to receive and shelter him, was the first to 
receive and shelter his Gospel. She had prepared herself, by the monuments of 
four thousand years, to believe the doctrines of a re-creation of the spirit in 
divine love, and the immortality of the soul. 

Then Egypt ceased to build temples with hands. The people's minds were 
turned to the temples of the soul. Cities of gold and crystal arose, but they 
were invisible. Yet they live, and shall live when the Pyramids shall have 
crumbled forever, and the world itself have changed. 




MEDINET, TEMPLE-PALACE OF RAMESES. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. 
On the Nile. — Karnak. 




HE next day our tourists started for 

Thebes on one of those floating 

homes called a Nile boat, and in the 

charge of a dragoman to whom had 

been intrusted all the provisions for 

the journey and the care of the party to Karnak. 

They expected to return more quickly by a 

steamer. 

The Nile boat is a pecuHar craft, long and 
narrow, with saloons in the after part and ample 
awnings over the deck. It will comfortably 
accommodate some six or eight people. It has arrangements for both 
sails and oars, is usually well stored with provisions, and a party may 
drift in it for days, leading a dreamy, lazy life, with the most stupen- 
dous ruins coming into view or fading from it, cool palms and shadowy 
camels in the clear distances, a sky all splendor above, and beauty 
everywhere. 

The boat is tied up to some object on the shore at night, as though 
it were a horse or a cow. There is little danger to the travellers thus 
exposed. 

Night on the Nile is a magnificence unknown to the West. 
Suddenly after sunset the deep shadow falls ; brilliant stars come out 



126 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

and seem to drop low, like lamps in a mighty palace ; the rising moon 
is like another sun ; the soft air is a deep-sea splendor, and there are 
a hush and a silence on every hand that invite adoration and rest. 

In the morning the air is filled with birds. European travellers, 
who place less value on animal life and have less heart in this re- 
spect than the Arabs, shoot at the birds for sport, and smile without 
compunction of conscience as they see the poor creatures with 
broken wings tumbling down from the heights of the air. 



SCAVENGER BIRDS. 

It is said that but for the scavenger birds the lands of the tropics and tlie 
South could not be inhabited. " If they failed for a single day," is the strong 
language of Michelet, "the country would become a desert." 

In indolent Africa thousands of villages depend upon them for purification. 
In drowsy America south of Panama or Caracas, they, swiftest of cleansers, 
must sweep out and purify the town before the Spaniard rises, ere the sun 
has stirred the carcass and the mass of offal into fermentation. 

These scavengers are found in all the warm countries of the earth. When 
it is evening-time in America, and the urubu, his day's work ended, replaces 
himself in the cocoanut tree, the minarets of Asia sparkle in the morning rays. 
Not less faithful than their American brothers, vultures, crows, storks, ibises, 
set out from their balconies on their various missions, — some to the fields, to 
destroy the insect and the serpent ; others, alighting in the streets of Alex- 
andria and Cairo, hasten to accomplish their task of municipal scavengering. 
Did they take the briefest holiday, the plague would soon be the only inhabitant 
of the country. 

Thus, in the two hemispheres, the great work of public health is performed 
with solemn and wonderful regularity. If the sun is punctual in fertilizing life, 
these scavengers are no less punctual in withdrawing from his rays the shocking 
spectacle of death. 

Seemingly, they are not ignorant of the importance of their functions. 
Approach them, and they will not retreat. When they have received the signal 
from their comrades, the crows, which precede them and point out their prey, 



THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. I 29 

you will see the vultures descend in a cloud from one knows not whence, as if 
from heaven. 

Naturally solitary, and without communication, — mostly silent, — they flock 
to the banquet by the hundred, and nothing disturbs them. They never quarrel 
among- themselves, and they take no heed of the passer-by. They imperturbably 
accomplish their functions with a stern gravity, with decency and propriety ; 
the corpse disappears, the skin remains. In a moment, as it were, a mass of 
animal matter that would soon be putrid fermentation has vanished. 

It is strange that the more odious they are to us, the more useful we find 
them. They always seem hungry, and wear a hungry expression. Let them 
devour a hippopotamus, and they still seem to be famishing. To the gulls, 
those multitudinous vultures of the sea, a whale seems but a reasonable mor- 
sel. As long as aught of it remains, they remain ; fire at them, and they return 
to it in the very mouth of your guns. Nothing dislodges the vulture on the 
carcass of a hippopotamus. 

Devaillant killed one of these birds, which, when mortally wounded, still 
plucked away scraps of flesh. Was he starving .^ Not he. Food was found in 
his stomach weighing six pounds ! 

Standing before them, you feel yourself in the presence of the ministers of 
death ; but of death tranquil and natural, and not of murder. They are the 
agents of a beneficent chemistry, that preserves the balances of life here below. 
They labor for us in a thousand places where we ourselves may never penetrate. 
We can clearly see their services in the town, but no one can measure the full 
extent of their benefits in those deserts where the winds are laden with the 
poison of death. 

In the fathomless forest, in the deep morasses, under the impure shadow of 
mangoes and mangroves, where ferment the corpses of two worlds, dashed to 
and fro by the sea, the great purifying army goes on the wings of air ; and 
woe to the inhabited world if their mysterious and unknown toil should cease 
for an instant ! 

In America these benefactors are protected by law. Egypt does more for 
them : she reveres and loves them. The ancient worship of these birds no 
longer exists, but they still receive the same hospitality in the regions of the Nile 
and the desert as in the time of Pharaoh. Ask an Egyptian fellah why he al- 
lows himself to be infested and deafened by birds ; why he endures the insolence 
of the crow, posted on his buffalo's horn or his camel's hump. He will answer 
nothing. To the bird everything is lawful. He knows that man lives only 
through the instrumentality of his winged protector. 

9 



130 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

The universal sympathy of man with the harmless species of the animal 
kingdom is one of the charms of the East. The West has its peculiar splendors ; 
but the moral attraction of Asia, with all her ignorance and superstition, lies in 
the unity between man and Nature, — where the primitive alliance remains un- 
broken, where the animals are ignorant that they have cause to dread the 
human species. 

There is a gentle pleasure in observing this confidence between man and 
the birds, in seeing the inhabitants of the air come at the Brahmin's call to eat 
out of his hand.. 

" At Cairo," says a traveller, " the level roofs of the houses are covered by a 
crowd of birds. Even the eagles sleep on the balconies of the minarets." 

Conquerors from the West have never failed to turn into derision and ridi- 
cule this gentleness for animated Nature ; but destroy these animals, and the 
country would be no longer habitable. That' which has saved India and Egypt 
through so many misfortunes, and preserved their fertility, is neither the Nile 
nor the Ganges, but the respect for animal life, the mildness and the gentle 
heart of man. 

We have followed the thought of Michelet, which we recalled with 
gratitude here, where the air was swarming with beneficent wings. 

The cool north winds blow the sails that move up the Nile during 
the winter, and temper the warm spring air. The sunrise and sunsets 
glimmer with the wings of birds. The waters are calm, except in 
eddies, or when disturbed by squalls after dark. 



THE COPTS. 

The Nile is made interesting to the American Christian from its 
associations with Coptic traditions and events. 

Who are the Copts } 

They are the descendants of the early Christians. They number 
about one hundred and fifty thousand. 

Egypt was the first nation to receive the Gospel. St. Mark was 
her missionary preacher. It is related that he fell a martyr to the 



THE RUINS OF THE (lUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. I 33 

cause in Alexandria ; that he was tied to a cart and dragged over the 
pavements of the streets until life was nearly extinct ; tliat then he 
was thrown into a cave to die, where Christ appeared to him in a 
vision. He was buried in Alexandria; but his body after a time was 
removed to Venice, and tlife Cathedral of St. Mark, a pile of gems, — 
the beautiful stones of all lands, — was erected as his memorial. 

The Coptic church, or Jewish and Greek church, thus founded by 
St. Mark at Alexandria, carried the Gospel into all Egypt. Chris- 
tianity here established her schools. Great men arose ; among them, 
Clement of Alexandria, Athanasius, Origen, now among the most 
esteemed of the Church fathers. The Church had a period of glory, 
but declined after the conquest of Egypt by the Mohammedans. 

The Copts injured their cause by not following the examples of 
St. Mark and St. Paul. Instead of sending forth missionaries, as did 
Rome, to convert the world, they favored cloister life, hermitages, and 
retirement from the world. The Nile is full . of ruined monasteries. 
Caves of anchorites are everywhere to be found. It is said that at one 
time there were one hundred thousand Coptic recluses in Egypt, and 
that fifty thousand hermits at this period once came out of their her- 
mitages and caves to attend an Easter festival at Tabenna. The fruit 
of this secluded and barren life was small ; it is missionary activity 
that produces results. 

No road could be like the Nile. The objects on the shore seem to 
move slowly, but the boat does not. Life is all a dream. 

The city of Sioot came into the vision, white minarets against a 
dark background of Libyan mountains. The banks were filled with 
flowers of every hue ; the winds bore delicate perfumes on their 
light wings. 

Again and again herds of buffalo and other animals were seen 
rushing down to the river, then drinking, then plunging in, and dis- 
ippearing from sight. 

Ducks fill the still water, and melons line the banks. The people 



134 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

put melons over their heads, having made eye-holes in them, and swim 
among the ducks as though their heads were floating melons, and so 
capture the poor birds at will. 

Day by day passed in this atmosphere of luxury. 

But grand sights are at hand. The ghosts of Thebes already 
shadow the distance. 

" Karnak ! " said the dragoman, shading his eyes with his hand. 

All was expectation. The most stupendous structures of human art 
were darkening the bright air, — the ruined temples of vanished gods, 
and the crumbling palaces of men who were once deemed divine. 

The Temple Palace of Karnak was the grandest structure of 
human thought and hands. Godlike minds planned it, to which the 
architects of to-day are as pygmies ; armies of builders carried out the 
gigantic plan. It was twelve hundred feet long. St. Peter's at Rome, 
the greatest structure of the present time, might have been a porch to 
it. The famous cathedral at Colosfne mic^ht have been set down in 
its Hypostyle Hall. 

The ruins of Thebes cover an area of many miles, and the Nile 
flows silently through them. On one side of the river is the so- 
called Thebes ; on the other, Karnak and Luxor. All was once 
Thebes ; it is a village of beggarly showmen now, a plain filled with 
ruins and flowers. 



THEBES BY DAY. 

The approach to the ruins of Thebes is somewhat disappointing. 
The historic city rises in a vision ; and instead of the half-expected 
grandeur there are airy ruins and vacancy. After passing lateen sails 
on the river, and curious pigeon towers along the banks, tombs of 
Coptic saints, caverns of dust of men and animals once regarded 
sacred, clumps of palms and shapeless mud huts, the Rameseum and 




FALLS OF THE NILE. 



THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. 137 




COPTIC MAIDEN. 



the two colossi appear ; and one gazes into vacant air full of peace 
and sunshine. 



138 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

The Libyan hills, which have had the charm of a far-off pictu- 
resqueness, draw near, then sweep away again. The Arabian hills 
present the same feature ; and between them both at last opens a 
great area or plain, such as a king might choose for the founding of 
a splendid city. As the boat drifts on, here rises a broken pylon, 
there a crumbling obelisk. The plain, with its rampart of cliffs, 
comes into nearer view. 

Some twenty ruins of temples remain on the plain, and the outline 
of no ruin is entire. Karnak is a pile of broken columns ; onl}^ a small 
part of the Rameseum remains ; the two sentinel colossi alone recall 
the glory of the once stupendous temple of Amenoph. 

The plain is a graveyard. Monuments and halls of the dead alone 
remain. Thebes was not built to endure. " Life is but for a mo- 
ment," said the ancient priests of the sun. " Flurry to build your 
tomb ; you are but dwellers in tents, but the soul may need the old 
home of the body again ; preserve it ; care for the soul is the only 
care worth heeding ; this life is dust." 

They were men of mighty thought, those old builders. They 
worshipped Amor, and built colossal tombs. Human life and force 
for ages spent themselves in the building of tombs. Generation 
followed generation, and each generation was employed in building its 
own tombs ; and so the centuries moved on. 

The temples on the Libyan side of the old city are entrances to 
the chambers of the dead. 

One of the first visits of our tourists was to the Rameseum, or the 
Temple of Rameses IL (Sesostris), which has been already spoken of; 
and to the colossi, which have been described. 

The next journey was to the great temple of Rameses III. at 
Medinet Abo. The second night of the visit was passed in a tomb 
whose tenant had long ago turned to dust, and needed it no longer. 
The last day was spent at Luxor. 

The door of the tomb where the second night was passed com- 
manded a view of nearly the whole plain. 




KARNAK. HVPOSTYLE HALL. 



THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. 



141 



The plain was yellow and green ; palm-trees nodded in the light 
Nile winds, and ghosts of palaces everywhere appeared. The visitors 




KARXAK, EXTERIOR WALL. 



encountered bats in the ruins ; and Arab boys with donkeys came to 
visit them, and argued in an unknown tongue with Ali Bedair. 

Some of these Arab boys were very handsome. They seemed to 
have no ambition except for the day; wherever our tourists met them 



142 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

they were quick to devise excuses for asking for money, but beyond 
this they appeared to be lost in contemplation. 

" What do the young Arabs constantly meditate upon ? " asked 
Charlie of the interpreter. 

" Nothing, my son," was the reply. 

Thebes by day ! We must let the pencil of the artist bring it into 
view. No description can equal the artist's work ; and that work is so 
faithfully done that you would recognize every feature of it if you 
found yourself a pilgrim alone on the plain of Thebes. 



QUEEN HATASU. 

In the temple of Karnak a tall monolith awakened the curiosity of 
the visitors. 

"What is its history ? " asked Charlie Noble of the interpreter. 

" Queen Hatasu, daughter of Thothmes I.," answered the inter- 
preter. 

" Her monument? " 

" No ; she built her monument out of a mountain. She caused the 
monolith to be erected, as a work of beauty and art." 

" Who was she } " 

"She was a person who had the form of a woman, but the spirit of 
a man. She was one of the master-builders of Thebes. 

" She ordered the people to regard her as a man, and to call her 
King. She filled the city with her pictures and statues, and is every- 
where represented as a king with a full beard. So, whenever you find 
a picture of a queen with a beard, and the head-dress of a king, you 
may suppose that it is Queen Hatasu." 

On the road from Luxor to Karnak our travellers met a dealer in 
antiquities, and purchased some specimens similar to those so well 




COURT OF THE COLOSSI. 



THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. 1 45 

displayed in the Boston Art Museum. The dealer was found sitting 
between two sphinxes, one of them having the head of a woman and 
the other of a goat. His " bazaar " was a simple carpet or rug spread 
upon the ground. 

THE SACRED CAT. 

Egypt is the land of cats. " If I wanted a good cat, I would go to 
Egypt," said an old traveller. The cats were once regarded as sacred, 
and cat-headed images everywhere appear. The cat was the em- 
blem of affection, — Aphrodite. There were once held in Egypt 
festivals of cats, that called together each some seven hundred 
thousand pilgrims. 

In the great pilgrimages to Mecca a camel loaded with cats in 
baskets, under the care of a venerable follower of the Prophet, is still a 
conspicuous object ; for customs do not always change the history or 
religion of a country. If the cat is no longer held sacred as the 
emblem of a daughter of the sun, she is still regarded as one of the 
most precious blessings of the land of the lotus, and nothing hand- 
somer than an Egyptian kitten is to be seen in the animal kingdom. 

" Do you wonder that they used to worship cats } " asked Charlie 
of Charlie, as they saw a group of these beauties purring in the sun. 

" Egypt must have been a paradise for old women and children," 
was the answer. 

At Karnak there was a temple that contained more than five 
hundred cat-headed statues. They were made of black granite, and 
were somewhat like the cat-headed statue in the Boston Museum of 
Fine Arts. A number of these grotesque figures can still be seen 
near an ancient tank. Charlie Noble and Charlie Leland went to 
look at them by moonlight, under the guidance of Ali Bedair. 

"It was awful!'' was the report of one Charlie; and the other 
Charlie, using a Shakspearean double superlative, declared, " It was 



146 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



the most frightfulest sight that lie ever saw," and inquired what 
catastrophe could have left them in such a position. 

" I thought that they had all started to come right at me," he 




added. " I saw them getting up, and their thrones or cat-stools 
tipping over after them. It did seem so, sure." 

The artist has partly verified the statements of the two Charlies, 
and especially the last . 

SERPENT-CHARMING. 



Serpent-charming is a popular diversion in Egypt. One may see 
serpent-charmers in the squares and gardens of Alexandria and Cairo, 
and even at the Arab villages at and near the ruins of Thebes. 

The serpent in Egypt was an emblem of life and immortality. It 
was regarded as sacred. Its wisdom gave it a place among the rep- 
tiles that were gifted by the gods. Wisdom, disobedient, is cunning ; 
obedient, it is life. Moses may have had this thought in mind when 



THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. 149 

he uplifted, as empaled, the brazen serpent in the wilderness, although 
it is taught that the act represented the conquest of life over the 
principle of evil. The Israelites had doubtless been accustomed to 
see the serpent everywhere represented as the emblem of life. In the 
Boston Art Museum may be seen a picture of a priest uplifting a 
sacred serpent with his hand, on a very ancient fragment. 

At Cairo the exhibitions of the serpent-charmers are well supported 
by the English residents and visitors. At small places the exhibitors 
gain a precarious living. 

Our tourists met one of these performers at the Arab village at 
Thebes. His serpents were asps, or the Egyptian cobra. They were 
about five feet long, and distended their heads when excited. 

The Arab seemed to handle them without fear or discomfort. They 
would move their heads to the sound of music, at his bidding. 

" Their fangs have been extracted," said Charlie Noble to Ali 
Bedair. 

The old interpreter repeated Charlie's remark in Arabic to the 
snake-charmer. 

The latter seemed offended. He sent for a live duck. It was 
brought. He caused the duck to excite the cobra. The latter struck 
the bird, which soon after died. 

Seeing this, the boys took a view of subsequent performances at 
a long and safe distance. 

The boys so often met with the sight of living crocodiles, and had 
read so much about the sacred crocodiles in their books, that they 
were desirous of visiting one of the famous caves once sacred to this 
animal, and still filled with mummies. This could not conveniently 
be done. But Ali Bedair, on the evening in which the whole party re- 
turned to the boat, previous to the day of their return, prepared from 
an English tourist's account, which had been published, a very inter- 
esting statement concerning these caverns and what they contain. 



150 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



THE MUMMY CROCODILES.i 

On sailing up the river, under shadow of the mountain-ranges that on either 
hand hem in its waters, our dreamy twihght was so often beguiled by natives 
with wild accounts of crocodiles, and of the crocodile mummy-pits in Upper 
Egypt, that I was ever on the lookout for the one, and impatient to visit the 
other. 

These mummy pits or caves contain the remains of an immense number of 
crocodiles, which were regarded as sacred in Upper Egypt in ancient times. 

Our party decided to visit the mummy-pits. Passing over the mountains, 
we came to a scene of wild desolation, and stopped at some rude villages for 
refreshment, and for further direction to the places of the sacred relics. 

In half an hour from the last villages, we reached a slope, central to this 
desolation, clothed with golden sand, and as smooth and bare, save for stones 
resembhng bomb-shells scattered about, as an arena swept for a festival. In the 
middle we found the debris of ancient cordage and charred mummies. These 
were gathered about a triangular-mouthed pit, five feet broad at the base by two 
yards long at the apex, and ten feet deep, which our guide declared to be the 
only entrance to the caves. 

" And what mean all these charred remnants } " I asked. 

" Oh," he replied, " some of the wise men who lately accompanied the pasha 
in his progress up the country visited the caves, as you are now doing ; and on 
coming out, finding the air sharp and keen, they made a huge bonfire of the 
once holy mummies of men and beasts to keep life within them, and the rest 
they threw in fragments away." 

At the bottom of this pit was a hole only large enough apparently for a 
weasel, through which we must torture our way. 

Before commencing operations our first inquiry was for lights. Hamed's 
(our guide's) business always was to provide candles for such expeditions, which 
it was always Hamed's infirmity to forget. So it happened on this expedition. 
Instead of an unusual supply for an extraordinary occasion, we had only the 
remnants of a few farthing rushlights. The question then arose, " Shall we 
hazard our way with these into the bowels of the earth, or abandon our 
enterprise p " 

Hoping against hope, and enjoining upon improvident Arabs providence 

^ Abridged from an English magazine article. 



THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. 153 

and economy, we decided to proceed. Forthwith stripping ourselves of our 
outward gear, we lowered ourselves into the pit. 

It was difficult so to crumple our bodies up as, prostrate and feet foremost, 
to squeeze ourselves into the weasel aperture. In this posture for twenty feet 
we struggled our way through a tunnel not more than two feet high and one 
and a half broad, to reach a grotto, where, to our great relief, we could rise on 
our knees. 

Here we lighted our "brief candles," and set ourselves to the real business 
of our expedition. This we had no sooner done than our further entrance 
was disputed by the only living denizens of these gloomy regions. 

Clouds of bats, dropping from the roof and walls around, rushed bewildered 
against us, terrified, in their passage to the open air. Our lights were extin- 
guished in a trice, and ourselves thrown into no small consternation. In vain 
we battled with the filthy monsters. Swarm followed on swarm, regardless of 
our cries, and cHnging to our bodies with a harpy grip. We threw ourselves 
down, our faces to the earth, in patient endurance, till the last fluttering wings 
rallied us from our surprise, and left us masters of the situation and of 
ourselves. 

Relighting our candles, and giving the word '' Delwiikte" ("Now, then"), to 
which our guides boldly responded, '' Hadez" ("All right"), we started afresh, 
each following his guide, with our Coptic leader in the van. 

Resuming our former posture, we writhed again our way through a similar 
tunnel, to find ourselves in another grotto higher and more spacious than the 
last. It was a grateful relief to our cramped and bruised bodies ; for on account 
of the narrowness of these passages, and necessary position in forcing our way 
through them, our heads and faces came into frequent contact with the rugged 
surface beneath us or the sharp splinters above. Added to this, the increasing 
temperature of the place, as we advanced, and the atrocious odor of ammonia, 
made our labor one of such positive suffering that had I been alone I would 
have made back at once for the outer world. 

In this way, sometimes on our breasts, sometimes on all fours, stifled with 
dust, suffocated with heat, and sick with Stygian odors, we labored on, till in 
half an hour we emerged into a hall, — if I may so call a chaos of shivered 
rock, — where we could stand erect. 

This chamber, between thirty and forty feet in height, and a hundred per- 
haps in circumference, which arched over us, and circled round in charred and 
bristling crags, would, under other circumstances, have imaged to our minds 
the entrance to the shades; but now, as we sat down to breathe from our 
struggles, was to us the very paradise of rest. 



154 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

The rest of a few minutes, however, made us see our position in the true 
light of the pervading darkness, — a darkness so intense that as we held aloft 
our feeble lights to survey the scene, it seemed as though it would quench their 
glimmer. 

The heat and effluvia had, at the same time, become so oppressive that I 
confess I began to fear life and light would go out together. Before reaching 
this spot, the atmosphere had begun to tell so seriously upon me that I could 
hear my heart beat, while I was almost fainting from suffocation. 

From this hall we penetrated into fantastic grottos and gloomy recesses, to 
return to the same point, — a bewildering intricacy without end, where, guideless 
and once astray, you were lost forever. The air, too, had become now so 
charged with nitrogen that we felt powerless to move, and the tension on mind 
and body was such as to render us almost reckless. 

The Copt at this critical juncture roused us by starting to his feet and 
urging us onward. His example quickened us to immediate action. Our 
further progress, however, seemed for some minutes impossible. A fathomless 
chasm, to judge by our lights, yawned before us. The Copt, however, kept our 
courage up by continual assurances that he had discovered the tokens by which 
he had on former occasions shaped his course. Suddenly he descended out of 
sight, and suddenly we saw him reappear, springing up the further side with a 
gurgling howl in his throat, which he intended for " Hurrah ! " 

Directed and encouraged by him, we cleared what seemed an impassable 
gulf, to find ourselves still prisoners of hope ; for, to reach our itltiina T/mle, we 
had again to throw ourselves upon our breasts and crush our bodies through 
passages as difficult and tortuous as before. 

The rugged face of the rock became now padded soft with layers of 
crocodile fragments, which the sacrilegious hands of former visitants had strewn 
on their passage out. The great charnel-house of the crocodile world could not 
now be distant. One effort more brought us upon several chambers, and at 
last into one long, narrow cavern, w^here we had reward for all our toi]_, as we 
crawled over the ever-increasing bodies of the crocodile dead. 

There they lay, heaps upon heaps, layer piled over layer, from what depth 
we knew not upwards till flush with the roof. Each layer, where body was 
separated from body by palm-stems, was thickly and carefully covered with 
palm-leaves, somewhat faded, indeed, but otherwise as fresh as though plucked 
but yesterday from groves which formed, as now, the glory of the worshipped 
river. 

The sight, startling in itself, is almost overpowering when you ask. How 
had all these monster heaps, from the little tadpole of a day to the huge patri- 



M 




THE RUINS OF THE QUEEN CITY OF THE WORLD. 157 



arch of three hundred (?) years, been gathered, and in such order, into this 
pathless world of unbroken night ? What spirit of evil ranged them in this 
cavernous abyss of darkness side by side, the head of one to the tail of another, 
every chink and interval filled up with reptile-bundles in order due, in strange 
economy of space ? For bundles of little crocodiles, eight or ten inches long, 
each swathed as carefully as the largest, are disposed in such intervals. Where 
was the entrance to the shrine devoted to these symbols of the god ? On ques- 
tions such as these reigns Egyptian darkness, deep as that which brooded 
around us, — a darkness then felt the more, because broken only by the faint 
glimmer of our expiring light. 

My sight grew hazy, and breathing more difficult. The feeble light, which 
I held aloft, flickered ominously. I felt I must abandon these crocodile cata- 
combs, and I turned my steps hastily toward the upper air. 

" Noph shall be waste and desolate, without an inhabitant," cried 
the Hebrew prophet. " I will destroy the idols, and 1 will cause the 
images to cease out of Noph." Thebes is a museum, — a place to 
buy curiosities. Thebes by day is a long valley of sunshine and 
birds and flowers ; by night she is a stereoscopic picture of desolation. 
The traveller leans against a column older than Rome, and looks up to 
the eternal stars, and watches the moon as it rises over the Nile, and 
thinks the same thoughts and dreams the same dreams that perplexed 
the minds of men in ages out of mind, and can answer them no more 
than Job could answer the questions that were asked him by the 
Eternal and the Invisible, 




CHAPTER VIII. 

A DIGRESSION. - EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN BOSTON. 
The Way Collection. 

are thousands of young people who have antiquarian 
tastes and to whom antiquities are poems, who 
can never see the ruins of Memphis or Thebes, 
or even the British Museum. There is no exten- 
sive collection of Egyptian Antiquities in the 
I United States, but there is a small though very 

' valuable one in Boston, at the Museum of Fine 

_' Arts. A great number of young people visit 
Boston occasionally ; and we make a digression 
here to show how a visit to the Museum of Fine 
Arts on Boylston Street, or Copley Square, may lead to a very in- 
structive illustration of our narrative. 

The Catalogue of the Museum says: — 

THE WAY COLLECTION. 

The Way Collection of Egyptian Antiquities was formed in Egypt by the 
late Mr. Robert Hay, of Linplum, Scotland, between the years 1828 and 1833. 
It was sold after his death, and was presented to the Museum in June, 1872, by 
Mr. C. Granville Way, of Boston. 




EGYPTIAN RUIN. 



EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN BOSTON. l6l 

The Way Collection comprises numerous specimens of each division of 
Eg-yptian antiquities, illustrative of the arts, manners, and civilization, and of 
the Pantheon, civil life, and funeral rites of ancient I'^gypt. Its chief strength 
is its mummies and coffins, some of which are well preserved ; and all would be 
valuable and important additions to any museum which does not possess 
similar specimens. Besides these, it is remarkable for its number of small 
objects, such as scarabaei, amulets, sepulchral figures, canopic vases, stamped 
cones, and the usual specimens found in Egyptian collections. It is such a 
collection as the British Museum would gladly have purchased before it was 
provided with Egyptian antiquities of the smaller kind. 

Several fine pieces of sculpture have recently been added, — the gift of the 
Hon. John Amory Lowell, Miss Lowell, and the heirs of the late Francis C. 
Lowell. They were collected in 1835 by the late John Lowell, founder of the 
Lowell Institute. They date from the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, 
between 1700 and 1300 b. c. ; and it is to this period, probably, that the finest of 
the mummy cases and a large portion of the objects in this Museum belong. 

It was the period of Egypt's greatest magnificence, though its art had 
sensibly fallen away from the truth and simplicity that had characterized it in 
the days of the Pyramid builders (between 4000 and 3000 b. c). None of the 
art of that day, excepting, possibly, one piece of stone cut in relief (Case S), is 
to be found in this collection. 

After the conquest of Egypt b}^ Alexander, b. c. 332, Egyptian was to a 
slight degree influenced by Greek and afterwards by Roman art ; an instance 
is given in the painted mummy-coverings of Case E. Later yet, Christian 
symbols began to appear, as may be seen upon some of the terra-cotta lamps of 
Case V. 



The mummies in the collection are about three thousand years 
old. Thebes was then a queen. The glory of Sesostris was her 
pride. The Nile was a continuous procession of prosperous cities, 
royal palaces, and stupendous temples. 

Moses and Aaron had but recently died. The Israelites had just 
completed the conquest of Canaan. The rise of Sparta, the over- 
throw of Tyre, the glory of Rome, and the enthronement of Jerusalem 
were then events to come. 

The Egyptians believed Osiris, the god of eternal life, would be 



1 62 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

the judge of the dead in the future life. Hence the collections every- 
where abound with prayers to Osiris. 

The mummies of the collection are six in number, of which four 
are perfect. They retain their ancient colorings. The face of one is 
gilded. Upon them are hieroglyphics ; there are pictures upon their 
feet, and on one of the cases is inscribed a prayer to Osiris. 

The cases and coverings have all been broken open. Robbing the 
tombs of Thebes has long been one of the industries of Egypt. 
Every mummy is searched for its jewels as soon as it is discovered. 

They illustrate the curious art of embalming in all of its known 
details. To accomplish this art the Egyptians removed the viscera 
and filled the body with bitumen and spices, after which they boiled it 
and then enveloped it in linen bandages, sometimes a thousand yards 
in length. The vitals were embalmed in spices, and were deposited in 
four vases, the first of which contained the stomach ; the second, the 
small intestines ; the third, the heart and lungs ; and the fourth, the 
liver. 

Certain genii, or minor deities, were supposed to protect these four 
parts of the viscera ; and the cover of each of the four vases bore the 
image of the deity who was believed to preside over the part that it 
contained. The vases were sometimes very rich, but were generally 
m.ade of common stone. They were usually inscribed with hiero- 
glyphics. 

The body and the spices having been sealed up, the cartonage was 
richly painted and gilded, and inscribed with hieroglyphics. The 
whole was then deposited in two or more wooden coffins, ornamented 
like the cartonage, and bearing upon its cover, in relief, the image of 
the mummy, the outer coffin being called the sarcophagus. 

In the cases where the cartonage that envelops the body has been 
badly broken, the form of the mummy may be seen, in this Museum. 
It seems to have fallen aw^ somewhat from the cartonage. We 
touched the head of one of these mummies through the cartonaee, 



EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN BOSTON. 



163 



not certainly with any expectation of gaining information tliereby, but 
from a desire to realize the fact that we had touched the body of a 
man who lived three thousand years ago. 

Figs. I, 2, 3, 4, represent vases containing tlie viscera. They are 
about a foot in height, are very light, and as they are arranged along 
the shelves, look very stiff and unique. 

The covers of these vases, which, with their deep markings and 
bold features, at once excite the curiosity of the visitor, are images of 
the heads of the genii of the Amenthe, which, according to Egyptian 
astrological lore, were a hawk, a dog, a jackal, and a human face. 







Fig. 



Fig. 3- 



Probably the reader will ask, as we did at first, How does it hap- 
pen that the coffins and images of wood have been so long perfectly 
preserved ? 

Egypt, though it is the place where Joseph gathered corn " as ^'~ 
sands of the sea," has a dry atmosphere, and owes her fertility solei) 
to the overflow of the Nile. For this reason wood, if kept dry, will 
not decay in that country for centuries. It is a somewhat remarkable 
fact that the fires of a manufactory recently established on the Nile 
were fed by cedar coffins more than two thousand and perhaps three 
thousand years old. 

These vases and images are, for the most part, such as were known 
at the time of Moses, and resemble those relics of even greater 
antiquity, which were deposited in the hills and grottos of Thebes, 



164 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

behind the Memnonium. If they are less ancient, they are counter- 
parts of the reHcs of the greatest antiquity to be found in the British 
and European museums. 

"And thou hast walked about — how strange the story ! — 

In Thebes's streets three thousand years ago, 
When the Memnonium was in all its glory, 

And time had not begun to overthrow 
Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, 
Of which the very ruins are tremendous." 

The Egyptians, when they died, expected to return to their origi- 
nal bodies at some future time, and desired to find them perfect. 




They built their temples with reference to this return, and intended 
them to outlast the changes of time. They expected to inhabit again 
the valley of the Nile. Hence the tombs and temples abounded with 
inscriptions. 

But longer records were deposited with the dead. They were writ- 
ten on papyri, a kind of paper made from a plant which has long ful- 
filled the prophecy recorded of it in Isaiah xix. 7. These records, 
with the '' Ritual for the Dead," also written on papyri, were usually 
placed inside of a small image, which, like the vases containing the 
viscera, were deposited with the coffins and sarcophagus. The " Rit- 



EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN BOSTON. I 65 

ual " consisted of prayers to the gods for the guidance of the soul in 
its gradual elevations into the realms of light, and directions by which 
it was supposed the deceased would ultimately recover his head, heart, 
and body. 

The Way Collection of Egyptian Antiquities has a number of 
these interesting images. Fig. 5 represents an image of this kind. It 
seems to be a female devotee praying to the god of the dead, perhaps 
for the welfare of some departed soul. 

A quantity of papyrus, both inscribed and uninscribed, belongs to 
this collection of antiquities, and is interesting for its associations. 
The ark in which Moses was concealed was made of papyrus smeared 
with bitumen. As Moses was probably educated in Heliopolis, the city 
of Joseph, and was certainly schooled in all the " arts of the Egyp- 
tians," the mysteries contained in the " Ritual of the Dead " must have 
been known to him, though he has left us only a hint of his own views 
of immortal existence. The Pyramids were old when he wrote the 
Ninetieth Psalm ; and in its composition he seems to have been more 
overawed by the shortness of human life and the vanity of its 
accomplishments than by any glowing conceptions of the destiny of 
the soul in the world to come : — • 

"Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, 
Return, ye children of men. v 

A thousand years in thy sight 
Are but as yesterday when it is past, 
And as a watch in the night. 
All our days are passed away in thy wrath ; 
We spend our years as a tale that is told." 

In one of the cabinets of the Way Collection may be seen a small 
image of Osiris holding an Egyptian cross, which resembles a " shep- 
herd's crook," and which was the emblem of eternal life. In another 
case are small figures representing the eye of Osiris, or the all-seeing 
eye of God. These were also deposited with the dead. The 



1 66 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

emblems of the . cross and the eye frequently occur in Egyptian 
inscriptions. 

Emblems of the immortality of the soul and of the resurrection of 
the dead are to be found on all these relics. On one tablet we find a 
hieroglyphic inscription of the soul leaving the body, represented by 
a bird or dove flying from the breast of a mummy ; on another tablet 
or image may be seen the soul returning to the body. The beetle, or 
scarab, was regarded as the emblem of the resurrection, because it 
deposits its egg in a ball and buries it; hence beetles carved in stone 
and wood were interred with the dead. 

In the collection there is a large glass case nearly filled with sacred 
scarabs, or beetles. They are made of different metals, and some of 
them, if we mistake not, are of wood. In symmetry, tracery, and fidel- 
ity to nature, they are the perfection of art. 

The collection of Egyptian coins is also interesting ; for if the more 
important relics date from 1400 B.C., these maybe of much greater 
antiquity. For aught we can tell, some of them may have been 
used by the Israelites before the exodus. 

But the object that more than any other excites the curiosity of 
visitors, and to which a poetic mind gives a free fancy, is a delicate 
female hand, on one of the fingers of which is a small gold ring. 
It is severed a little below the wrist, and must have been, in its 
day, very graceful and beautiful. The skin, which is very black, and 
seems to have gathered a light mould, is drawn somewhat closely over 
the bones, but not in a manner to give the appearance of a skeleton. 
The symmetry remains, the ring being still only a little too large for 
the finger; and it must look now much as it did when the blood coursed 
through the veins and arteries, bounding with joy or sluggish with grief 
over events that took place in some narrow vista of the past, no one 
can tell how many centuries ago. 

As the visitor stands by it, he can but wonder what part it had in 
the drama of life in those effaced years, perhaps before Assyria rose, 



EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN BOSTON. 1 67 

Troy fell, or Sparta became a kingdom. Did it strew flowers before 
the triumphal car of Rameses, or feed the eternal lamps amid the 
mysterious and shadowy splendors of the temples of the gods ? Was 
it fjiven in marriao-e ? Was it loved and caressed, consiiined to a 
late or an early tomb ? 

" Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat, 

Hath hob-a-nobbed witli Pharaoh, glass to glass, 

Or dropped a half-penny in Homer's hat. 
Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass, 

Or held, by Solomon's own invitation, 

A torch at the great temple's dedication." 

As we used to gaze upon these mummies and relics of Egypt's 
storied past and faded glory, the Bible stories that we had learned in 
boyhood seemed to pass almost like dimly remembered scenes before 
our mind. In fancy, we saw the selling of Joseph, the sombre gran- 
deur of the court of Pharaoh, the going down to Egypt to buy corn, and 
the embalming of Joseph, whose body undoubtedly was enveloped in 
cartonage like that before our eyes. 

The scenes of the exodus followed, — the parting of the Red Sea, 
the destruction of the host of Pharaoh. Egypt, with her colossal monu- 
ments, whose fertile bosom once nourished the human race, no longer 
appeared a vague and shadowy dream. We seemed nearer to Jacob, 
to Joseph, to Moses and Aaron, than ever before. 

We seemed, too, to be in the very presence of the great kings of 
Egypt ; for their busts and effigies are here. In the Catalogue we read 
an account of the casts. It was as follows : — 

" Casts : The colossal figure is that of Amenophis III., King of Egypt, about 
1500 B.C. The original, of granite, is in the British Museum. The placid, 
benevolent expression is characteristic- of Egyptian art. He was the Memnon 
of the Greeks. 

"On the v^^alls are busts of Thothmes III., b. c. about 1600; Rameses II., 
a c. 1407 ; Seti II., b. c. 1300. 

"The great bas-relief represents Seti I. (b. c. 1458) attacking the fortress of 



1 68 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Kanana in Palestine. Cast by Dr. Lepsius from the northern wall of the Tem- 
ple of Karnak. It was under the reign of his successor, Rameses II., that Moses 
was in Egypt. 

" Bas-relief. Nectanebo making an offering, b. c. 378. 

" The smaller casts are : Amenemha, a functionary of the twelfth dynasty, 
about 2800 to 2500 B. c. ; Amenophis IV., about 1480 b. c. ; Psammetichus II., 
B. c. 595 ; Head of Lion, of the date of Amenophis III. 

" The Rosetta Stone, inscribed in Hieroglyphic, Enchorial, and Greek char- 
acters, was the key to the interpretation of the language of the Egyptians. The 
original, cut in the reign of Ptolemy V., 205 b. c, is in the British Museum. 

" Eight slabs, cast from paper ' squeezes,' taken from sculptures at Thebes. 
One represents the chair of Queen Hatasu, between 1600 and 1700 b. c." 

When you visit Boston spend an hour in Egypt. It will cost you 
nothing if the day be Saturday. 

Our tourists, to gain time, returned to Cairo by a steamer, and 
thence by rail to Alexandria. 

The return voyage had not the novelty of the first experience on 
the Nile. But the old interpreter made it delightful by his stories. 
He repeated the stories of the Arabian Nights that are associated with 
Cairo, and told the original Memphis story of Cinderella. Among 
his stories that awakened a most intense interest were the two that 
follow. 



THE OLD PRIEST'S TALE OF ATLANTIS. 

The story that I am about to relate to you is very old. The leading inci- 
dents were very old in Plato's time. It may have reference to your far-away 
country, America. 

You have pyramids in the New World, I hear, and mummies, and in- 
scriptions on temples like those of Egypt, — in Mexico and Yucatan and Peru: 
are not those the countries where these pyramids, temples, and inscriptions are 
found } There once dwelt a race in that part of the world, I am told, who had 
Egyptian characteristics, but whose history was lost. You should know more 
about such things than I. But to my story. 



THE OLD PRIEST'S TALE OE ATLANTIS. 171 

Solon, according to Plato, once held a conversation with an ancient Egyp- 
tian priest concerning the early history of the world. 

This learned priest of Sais related to Solon that nine thousand years before, 
there lay in the Atlantic Ocean an island or continent "larger than both Asia 
and Africa." The shores of this continent were near those of the African coast 
on one side, and stretched aji immense distance through the Atlantic, and com- 
municated with mysterious islands and unknown lands. Its inhabitants once 
invaded Greece .and were repelled. This land was called Atlantis, and its heroes 
were known as the Sea Kings of Atlantis. 

In this land there arose at first a powerful dynasty of kings. They con- 
quered Libya as far as Egypt, and were ambitious of the conquest of Europe. 

This royal race were sons of gods and of the daughters of the earth-born 
inhabitants of the ocean land. There were ten kings, who had ten kingdoms, 
and thus divided the island or continent into ten parts. 

Atlas, the oldest son, was the Supreme King. He founded a royal city in 
the centre of the island, which must have been more glorious and powerful than 
Thebes. Everything here was colossal and golden ; the vast land was a gar- 
den ; the markets overflowed with delicious fruits. 

Atlas had a divine nature. As long as his descendants continued to inherit 
this divine nature, the glory of their empires was certain to continue ; but if any 
of them were to lose this divine nature, their power was fated to decline. 

Centuries and epochs passed. Glorious cities sprang into the air ; there 
was prosperity everywhere. 

But at length the kings began to lose the divine character of their ances- 
tors ; their human nature began to prevail over the divine. The kings became 
mere men ; their power waned. Then they became monsters ; and Atlantis 
the beautiful sank into degradation, and its people delighted in evil. Cruelty, 
deceit, and lust prevailed. The gods became their enemies, and forcing the 
island to sink, the people of Atlantis were drowned by a flood. 

Such is the Egyptian story. Other accounts say that Atlantis was sunk by 
an earthquake, and others that it was driven into the sea by the contact of the 
head of a comet with this part of the earth. 

Diodorus claims that this island was disx:overed by the Phoenician 
navigators. 

Writers of many centuries have sought to connect this Island of the Outer 
Sea, or Western Ocean, this Atlantis of the Golden Age, with an ancient knowl- 
edge of the New World, through this now submerged course. The western 
boundaries of this land of godlike kings must have reached what you call the 



172 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Antilles ; and through such a chain of islands — if the Antilles were then 
islands — communication with America, especially with southern parts of North 
America, would have been easy, for Atlantis was famous for its sea kings, as I 
have said. If the ancient priest's story were true, it might account for the mys- 
teries of Egyptology in your own land, so far away, so far away. 

But long after the Fortunate Islands — the Islands of the Blest — were lost, 
the poets loved to sing of them. Nearly all the Latin poets had dreams of the 
Golden Age ; and Seneca wrote, — 

" Venient annis saecula seris 
Ouibus Oceanus vincula rerutn 
Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus, 
Tethysque novos detegat orbes : 
Nee sit terris ultima Thule/' 

The lines, I am told, inspired Columbus to ask for a fleet for discovery. He 
sailed over the lost Atlantis, and discovered the lands that once lay beyond it, — 
the lands from which you come, or those associated with them. And you, my 
boys, all now think that the Golden Age is in the Western World, so far away, 
so far away. 

It may be that the old Egyptian priest of Sais knew of your own pleasant 
land, so far away, — a land that the eyes of Ali Bedair can never hope to see, 
it is all so far away. But Ali Bedair loves to read about that land, and will 
always remember his American friends when they too shall be far, far away. 



THE BAFFLED KING. 

Rhampsinitus was one of the most magnificent of the ancient Egyptian 
monarchs. He was the father of Cheops, who built the Great Pyramid at 
Mem.phis for a tomb. 

He was richer than any of the kings who had been before him. So vast 
was his treasure, that he caused a stone house to be built for it, and ordered 
the mason to construct it in such a way that he (the king) only would know 
how to enter it. 

The commission was too great a temptation for the honesty of the master 
mason. He fitted a certain stone in the outer wall so that it might be removed 
by any one who knew the secret. 



THE BAFFLED KING. 



175 



The mason, soon after finishing the royal treasure-house, was stricken down 
with a mortal sickness. He called his two sons to him, and confided to them 
the secret of the movable stone. 

The king visited his treasure-house often, to see that the seals were secure. 
One day he discovered that though the seals were secure, a considerable sum 
of money in one of the vaults was gone. 




THE SACKS OF WINE LEAKlxNG. 



A few days passed, and he discovered a further loss ; and again and again. 
It was a great mystery to him. How could money be taken from the vaults 
by human hands while the seals were secure .'' 

He set a man-trap, and so arranged it that if any one entered the vault he 
would be secured. 



176 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

At night the two sons of the mason came to rob the vault again, and one of 
them was caught. 

" My brother," said the captive, " I am a prisoner. Cut off my head, or 
both of us will be ruined. The loss of my head will save you." 

The brother did as advised. When the king came to visit the vault, he 
was astonished to find in it a man without a head. 

The king left the body in the vault, but set a guard. The body, in Egypt, 
was held to be the future home of the soul. Its loss or destruction was re- 
garded as the greatest possible calamity. 

"The friends of the thief will try to recover the body," thought the king. 
" When they come for it, I will arrest them." 

When the mother of the dead thief learned the fate of her son, she was in 
great distress, and said to the other, — 

" Secure his body, or I will myself go to the king and reveal the whole 
mystery. The treasures of Egypt are of less value than the body of my son." 

The thief was at his wits' end. He loaded some asses with skins of strong 
wine, and drove them towards the palace. Just before he reached the treasury- 
building, he loosened the necks of the skins so that the wine might leak. In 
this manner he appeared before the sentinels, seeming to be in the greatest 
distress, running from one leaking wine-skin to another, and calling for help. 

The sentinels came to his assistance, but drank so much of the wine in 
their endeavors to fasten the necks of the skins that they lost their senses, and 
became dead-drunk. While they were in this condition, the thief secured the 
body of his brother. 

The king was more astonished than ever when he found that the body was 
gone. He at first knew not what to do. 

He issued a proclamation. He had a very beautiful daughter. In the 
proclamation he gave permission to any man to court her who would answer 
her first questions ; one of her first quescions was to be, — 

" Do you know who was the thief who robbed the treasury V' 

Many suitors came. The thief concluded to go ; but he first had made 
for him a false arm. 

When the beautiful princess asked him the leading question, he answered, — 

" I do." 

" What is the most wicked thing that you ever did ? " 

" I robbed the royal treasury." 

" What the most clever .-* " 

" I secured the dead body of my brother who helped me." 




LEAVING HIS ARM BEHIND. 



THE BAFFLED KING. 



179 



" How ? " 

" I made the sentinels drunk." 

The princess seized him by the arm, and held the arm ; but the man van- 
ished. She found in her grasp nothing but an arm. 

The king was amazed. He issued another proclamation, offering free par- 
don to the man who would explain to him all these mysteries. His life and his 
treasures were all in danger from such a foe. He must make him a friend, and 
turn his craftiness from ways of evil to some royal good account. 










The son of the mason appeared, and explained the secret of the chain of 
mysteries. Herodotus says that Rhampsinitus gave the princess in marriage to 
him ; which ought not to be true, for he deserved only the punishment of a 
common thief. But cunning was coin in Egypt in "those days, and right and 
wrong were very little regarded. 



l8o ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. 

There once lived a man of great riches and resources, who owned a slave, 
and he desired to make him happy ; so he gave him his liberty, and with it "a 
ship loaded with a priceless store of merchandise. 

"The sea is before you," he said, " with all its ports and grand bazaars. Give 
thy sails to the winds, sell the merchandise to the traders of all lands, and all 
that thou receivest for it shall be thine." 

The lateen sails were lifted like wings, and the slave and the ship were 
borne out of view on the wide and serene expanse of the sea. The mariners 
were gay ; and the slave felt that he was indeed a prince, on his ship filled 
with costly goods, and flying on over unruffled waters to marts rich in gems 
and gold. 

A storm arose. The ship rocked helplessly, and was drifted hither and 
thither, like a bubble on the air. She was at last driveli upon a rock and 
broken to pieces, and all the sailors were drowned. 

The slave swam to an island that he discovered as the storm abated. It 
seemed rocky and desolate ; and without money or friends, he began to wander 
about, hoping to find some living being to whom to impart his tale of mis- 
fortune. 

He travelled away from the coast ; and afar, under the dim light of the sky, 
he discovered the golden domes of a very beautiful city. 

Forlorn, and almost destitute of a covering, he journeyed on over the wide 
plain, a solitary object amid the desolation of land and the treeless expanse of 
the air. 

The people of the city saw him plodding over the plain. A long procession 
came out to meet him. 

" The King ! the King ! " the people exclaimed. " Hail, hail ! The King, 
the King ! Welcome, welcome ! The King, the King ! " 

A golden chariot, with proud steeds and a glittering charioteer, advanced. 

The people conducted the slave to the chariot, exclaiming, — 

" Joy ! joy ! Welcome ! welcome ! The King ! the King ! " 

The chariot and slave, followed by the procession, entered the city, and 
came to a palace whose splendors exceeded anything in the lands from which 
the merchant-ship had sailed. Its domes blazed in the sky like the sun and 
moon and stars. > 



THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAAD. 



l8l 



y^A /. '•■■ 






^^'?f^'y\jr^'> 




" I do not understand this," said the 
slave. " I am but a wrecked wanderer." 

" Hail ! hail the King !" 

" You do not know who I am. I was 
born a slave." 

" Hail ! hail the King ! " 

" But what is my title to the throne ? " 

"Sire," said the nobles, "this island is 
inhabited by the spirits of the air. Each 
year the sovereign of spirits sends a human 
being to reign over us. His reign lasts a 
year." 

"And then ^" said the slave. 



The slave was conducted 
up steps of marble, through 
halls of crystal, into a bed- 
chamber of royal state. Here 
he was arrayed in royal gar- 
ments, and saluted as the 
sovereign of the island em- 
pire. 

At first he was so dazed 
that he thought he had be- 
held a vision, or was dream- 
ing. 

He entered the halls of 
stale ; they were full of princes 

and nobles. 

" Hail ! hail the 
King !" 




1 82 • ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" Then we take from him his royal robes, and put him on board a boat, and 
convey him to a great and mysterious island, — an island that men associate with 
desolation, to which the king's thoughts do not love to fly ; far, far away in the 
infinity of the sea/' 

" And then ? " 

" The sovereign of the spirits of the air sends us another human being for a 
king." 

" But is the king happy ? " 

" He might be if he were wise." 

" Three hundred and sixty-five days! one by one they must go and go, each 
one bringing the king nearer his fate. How could a king be happy in such a 
state .? " 

" They drown memory in wine and pleasure," said one, alluding to the 
kings whom shadowy boatmen had already carried to the mysterious island in 
the infinity of the sea. 

" I will not do as other kings have done," said the slave. " Let me prepare 
for the future, for the days that shall dawn beyond the three hundred brief 
days of this one year. There are, I perceive, some wise men among you. Let 
them be my councillors. I look upon the year of my reign as an opportunity. 
Let me improve it ; a good reign will not end in a destiny of desolation. It 
cannot do so. It would be contrary to the laws of the Ruler of the universe, 
whom I serve." 

" Naked thou wert sent to us, and naked shalt thou go from us," exclaimed 
the congregation of the nobles. 

" But I will send workmen to the mysterious island to beautify it, and to 
prepare for my coming." 

Then the wise men shouted, — 

" Long live the King ! " 

" I will change the land that looks so barren into fountains and gardens." 

" Long live the King ! " 

" I will make it to bloom like Paradise." 

" Long live the King ! " 

" I will give the sorrowful homes there." 

" Long live the King ! " 

" And the poor." 

" Long live the King ! " 

" I will cause it to be inhabited by people whom I have loved and made 
happy." 

" Long live the King ! " 




THE MAMELUKE'S LEAP. 



THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. 



185 



"And when my day shall come to give up my throne here, and lay aside my 
royal garments, I shall rejoice to go. I shall only be going to my own." 

"Thou hast discovered the secret of life," said the wise men. "O King, 
live forever ! " 

The slave did as he had purposed in his heart. 

The days passed, one by one, all the three hundred and sixty-five. The 




THE SLAVE WAS BOUXE AWAY. 

slave was daily growing richer in possessions on the mysterious island. His 
happiness grew day by day. and his last day was the happiest of all. 

The boatman came. The slave laid aside his royal robes, and was borne 
away into the low crimsoned twilight of the sea. The people regretted to have 
him leave them ; but his memory and example, like two angels, remained with 
them. 



I 86 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS lA^ THE LEVANT. 

The mysterious island at last rose before the slave. 

The fragrance of it delighted him before he beheld the shore. He heard 
golden bells ringing through the mist. 

As he drew near he found a great concourse of people waiting to meet him, 
clothed in beautiful garments. They, too, hailed him as their king. The deso- 
late island became a palm-garden. Golden domes rose above the waving verdure. 
All the birds of the sea loved the place. 

The new king was happy ; for his happiness now wholly depended on the 
well-being of others, and all his subjects were happy. 

Then said the king, — 

" This is like Paradise." 

The winds of the ocean then gently rang all the golden bells, and the people 
exclaimed, — 

" O King, live forever ! This is Paradise ! " 



On returning to Cairo, Ali Bedair made a pilgrimage with his 
party to the Pyramids ; for the former visit to the Great Pyramid had 
been only an adventure. 

THE MAMELUKES. 

Among the places in Cairo that excited the boys' interest was the 
wall of the citadel from which the Mameluke on his horse leaped. 
The view of the city and the plain of Memphis from this place was 
grand and extended. 

The Mamelukes were originally slaves of the beys, and v^^ere 
brought from the Caucasus, and at last made their body-guards. In 
the thirteenth century the Sultan bought twelve thousand of these 
trained soldiers, and formed them into a body of troops. Their power 
grew; and they used it for their own advantage, and finally fnade one 
of their own number Sultan of Egypt, and founded a dynasty. In 
1811 the Mameluke nobles, or beys, were massacred by Mohammed 
Ali. One escaped from Cairo. His horse, seemingly knowing the 
danger to which his master was exposed, was made to leap from 



THE DERVrSHES. 



189 



the walls of the citadel, and he reached the ground with his master 
unharmed. 

Ali Bedair, of course, took the party to see the ceremonies of — 




THE DERVISHES. 

The Koran commends poverty. 
Hence sprang into existence different 
orders of Mohammedan monks, known 
as dervishes. They are supposed to 
live in poverty, and to practise self- 
denial. One of their peculiar religious 
ceremonies is dancing, and in such a 
manner as to produce an ecstatic frenzy, 
which they regard as a very high order 
of devotion. 

Some of the old dervishes do very 
remarkable things. In their ecstatic de- 
votions they eat scorpions, handle cobras, 
and pierce their cheeks with long lances. 
They punish the flesh in many ways, 
and without seeming injury. 

In Cairo the dervishes are particu- 
larly numerous. The convents of the 
brotherhood in Egypt are many, and 
richly endowed. 

One may often hear their night 
chants at Cairo, as they go to visit the 
tomb of some saint of their order. 

Their devotions do not produce spir- 
itual faces or spiritual beauty of any kind. They are for the most part 
ill-favored and repulsive. The fruits of their devotions are the oppo- 
site of those of Christian faith. 



.r.J||l||ig 




IQO ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

One of their most remarkable ceremonies in Cairo is the riding of 
a chief dervish on a horse over a road paved with Hving bodies. 




The dervish who is to perform this act prepares himself by prayer, 
as do the devotees who are to expose their bodies to the feet of the 
horse. The devotees believe that they will be miraculously kept from 




/ itil li 



THE DERVISHES. I 93 

injury, and that the act secures for them the protection of the Pro])het 
against accident or harm for Hfe. 

At Alexandria the party visited the Catacombs, and there were 
shown " the ends of the earth." These Catacombs were entered by a 
small hole ; and some jackals attempted to come out about the time 
that the boys were creeping in, — an episode that tended to excite the 
bumps of caution in both. 

" May the Lord have mercy on your souls ! " said the guide, as he 
led the party towards the " ends of the earth." 

The inhabitants of " the ends of the earth," like the fabled dwellers 
upon the earth in primitive times, are able to fly : they are bats. 

From Alexandria our tourists went to Port Said, at the head of the 
Suez Canal, and here took a steamer for Jaffa, the port of Jerusalem. 

" I wonder," said Charlie Noble to Ali Bedair. " that the Egyp- 
tians never constructed a canal like that, in the times when they were 
constructing their great works." 

" They did," said the interpreter. " This is not the first or the 
second canal. History gives accounts of two." 

" What became of them ? " 

" They were open for hundreds of years, then became filled with 
sand." 

As our tourists left Cairo, the Pyramids seemed to sink into the 
sand. The vision of ancient Egypt vanished ; for Alexandria belongs 
to the new civilization of the world. 

Ancient Egypt had the ambition of the builders of Babel. She 
erected her structures to be equal to the greatness of her conception of 
her gods, and supposed that she was building for all time. Her armies 
of slaves broke down the mountains and hills, and labored for divinities. 
Life to them was a passing breath. Their rewards were to be in the 
luminous regions of Osiris and Isis. They wrought poems in stone 
for a thousand years. 



13 



194 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



THE PYRAMID BUILDERS. 

I. 

We hew the quarries of stone, and die, — 

Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives ; 
We rear the tonnbs to tombless lie, 

But Pharaoh lives forever. 
We toil like the scarabs, and then are gone, 
Gone like the lotus that breathed at morn ; 
Like the sunbirds we pass, 
And men cry, Alas ! 
But Pliaraoh lives forever. 

II. 
We chip the stones of the mountain wall, — 

Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives ; 
We topple the cliffs and cry, as they fall, 

" Pharaoh lives forever \ " 
From the quarries dark the obelisks rise 
With golden records, and face the skies. 
We toil and die. 
And the Nile flows by ; 
But Pharaoh lives forever. 



From the aeons of twilight gods till now — 

Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives — 
The sun has beaded the builder's brow ; 

But Pharaoh lives forever. 
Slaves, slaves are we ; and our lives we give 
That the heroes of Egypt immortal may live. 
We toil and die, 
'Neath the burning sky ; 
But Pharaoh lives forever. 

IV. 

Oh, what are we if Isis may reign,^ — 
Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives, — 
And the voice of Memnon is heard on the plain ; 

Pharaoh lives forever. 
If to gracious Osiris the pylons rise. 
And the tombs of the heroes are seen from the skies, 
What though we be slaves. 
And gain but our graves ! 
Pharaoh lives forever. 



THE PYRAMID BUILDERS. 



We shall live in the heroes who never die, — 

Pharaoli lives, Pharaoh lives ; 
We shall live in the gods whose fields are the sky, 

Pharaoh lives forever. 
We shall live in the records of deeds divine. 
Will the temples of Helios cease to shine ? 
We build and die, 
And the Nile flows by; 
But Pharaoh lives forever 



The Sphinx shall face forever the morn, 

Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives, — 
And winged peristyles redden at dawn ; 

Pharaoh lives forever. 
The caryatids forever uphold, 
For gods and heroes, the roofs of gold. 
Osiris is just, 
And we are dust ; 
But Pharaoh lives forever. 



Oh, give to us each but a bundle of grain, — 

Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives, — 
One bundle of grain from the blue Nile's plain, 

Pharaoh lives forever, — 
To lay beside us when we lie down 
(For the slaves of heroes Osiris shall crown), - 
One bundle of grain 
From the Thebian Plain ! 
Pharaoh lives forever. 



The grain of Amenthi, when goes the breath 

Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives, — 
We bear it over the Nile of death ; 

Pharaoh lives forever. 
Of the grain of Egypt one sheaf we take 
Of which the bread of heaven to make. 
One sheaf of our toil 
On Egypt's soil, 
Where Pharaohs live forever. 



195 



196 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



O Egypt, the nations may rise or fall, — 

Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives. 
Not in vain to the gods shall thy heroes call, 

Pharaoh lives forever ; 
Though Priam's name be heard no more, 
Nor Orpheus' song on Ilion's shore, 
On Thebes's Plain, 
While the stars remain, 
Shall Pharaoh live forever. 



Oh, vi^hat is life if to heroes given ! 
Pharaoh lives, Pharaoh lives. 
And what are toils for the gods of heaven ! 

Pharaoh lives forever. 
In the heroes and gods, immortal powers. 
And earth and sun and stars, are ours. 
For the gods we die, 
'Neath the burning sky. 
Pharaoh lives forever ! 



CHAPTER IX. 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN EGPYT. 



The Khedive. — Suez Canal. — Wolseley. — Gordom. 




HE land of the Nile is august and venerable in its historic 
memories. It is the relic of one of those mighty- em- 
pires which ruled the ancient world. The grandeur of 
the Ptolemies, the victories of the Rameses, the luxu- 
rious splendor of the days of Cleopatra, the greatness 
of its once flourishing art and literature, 
are among the most imposing romances 
of human annals. 

Egypt once coped with Imperial Rome 
in the heyday of its power. It once pro- 
duced warriors, scholars, statesmen, artists, 
men of science, who stood eminent among the great men of the earth. 
Philosophers and students have not yet ceased mourning the loss of 
that famous library at Alexandria, whose shelves were piled high with 
the costly lore of remote ages. 

In its present con-dition Egypt is interesting. Its noble monu- 
ments of ancient grandeur, its Sphinx and Pyramids, its ruins of 
Memphis, its towers, hieroglyphics, and obelisks, are gazed at by mod- 
ern eyes in wonder, and puzzle even modern men of science in the 
mystery of their construction and the vastness of their scale. The 
Nile, with its picturesque delta, its rainless borders, its annual over- 



198 ' ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

flow, its broad, steady sweep from the strange regions of the Dark 
Continent, its tropical vegetation, is a rare curiosity among even 
historic streams. 



THE SULTAN AND THE KHEDIVE. 

For many centuries Egypt was a subject province of Turkey. It 
was ruled over by governors appointed by the Sultan. In 181 1, how- 
ever, Mehemet Ali, who was at that time governor, rose in revolt 
against the Sultan's authority, and made himself master of Egypt. 

Mehemet was* thus the founder of the dynasty which now reigns 
at Cairo. The present Khedive, Tewfik Pasha, is Mehemet's great- 
grandson. In 1 84 1 the Sultan recognized this new dynasty, and de- 
creed tha;t the Egyptian throne should descend in Mehemet's family 
according to the law of hereditary succession in Turkey. 

Still Egypt did not become wholly independent of the Sultan's 
rule. It continued to be subject to him in so far as foreign affairs 
and the army were concerned. The " Viceroy of Egypt," as he was 
then called, could not send envoys to foreign courts, but was repre- 
sented at them by the Turkish envoys. Nor could the Viceroy main- 
tain a native army or navy of his own. Egypt was garrisoned and 
protected by Turkish troops. 

Egypt, moreover, was obliged to pay a large annual tribute to the 
Sultan, Later oii, larger liberties were conceded to Egypt by its 
Turkish Suzerain. In 1866 the title of the Egyptian ruler was, by a 
firman of the Sultan, changed from " Viceroy " (which meant, simply, 
the Sultan's representative in Egypt), to " Khedive-el-Misr," usually 
called " Khedive," which, in the Arabic tongue, means " King." 

At the same time Egypt was granted the right to send envoys 
abroad, and to maintain a native army and navy. But the Sultan still 
remained the Suzerain (or imperial ruler) of Egypt; and an annual 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 



199 



tribute of ^1,875,000 a year was paid (and still continues to be paid) 
into the Sultan's treasury. 

This is practically the relation which exists to-day between the Sul- 
tan and the Khedive. The Sultan still exercises a kind of exterior 
control over Egypt, and claims the right to enter Egypt and quell 
revolt, and to depose or sustain the reigning Khedive. 



THE SUEZ CANAL. 

The question has been asked many times since the present compli- 
cations in Egypt began, What is the interest of Great Britain in the 
Suez Canal } That interest is both direct and indirect, — direct, because 
the Government is a large owner of Suez Canal shares ; and indirect, 
because much the largest part of the shipping that passes through the 
canal flies the British flag. 

The canal was first authorized in 1S54 by Said Pasha, then Viceroy 
of Egypt. The concession was made to M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, a 
Frenchman, — the same projector who is now at the head of the Pan- 
ama Canal. The company to construct the Suez Canal was organized 
in 1858. Work was begun soon afterwards, and the canal was finished 
and opened to commerce late in 1869. 

A glance at the map will show to those who do not know it already, 
that this canal is a part of the shortest route from England to its pos- 
sessions in India. Out of this fact grew a very strong opposition in 
England to the construction of the canal. Not that England did not 
wish for a short line for herself; but there was a fear that if the lines 
passed through the territory of a foreign power, the water-way might 
be a dangerous means of attack upon India in time of war, as well as a 
commercial benefit in time of peace. 

But Great Britain had no right to object to the construction of the 
canal. She merely discouraged the enterprise, and predicted its failure. 



200 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

But in spite of that, M. de Lesseps persevered, under the encourage- 
ment of the Emperor Napoleon and with the direct help of Egypt, and 
the canal was completed. 

The work was accomplished at a vast cost. Although the canal is 
but one hundred miles long, twenty-five miles of which are through 
lakes which only needed to be dredged out, the expense of construc- 
tion was eighty million dollars. Moreover, thousands upon thousands 
of lives were lost, owing to the unhealthiness of the climate. 

Of the whole amount of funds needed to complete the canal, the 
Egyptian Government furnished about eighteen million dollars. It 
took for this sum shares in the stock of the company, agreeing, in 
1869, that these shares should not be entitled to a dividend until 
the year 1894. But by the first concession to M. de Lesseps, the 
Egyptian Government receives fifteen per cent of the tolls. 

In spite of the opposition which England had made to the enter- 
prise, her merchants were rhe first to profit by the new line to Asia. 
From the very opening of the canal, two thirds of all the tonnage 
passing through it was British. 

But in November, 1875, Mr. Disraeli, then Prime. Minister of 
England, entered into an agreement with Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, to 
buy all the Suez Canal shares owned by the Egyptian Government. 
These shares numbered 1 76,602 ; and the price paid for them was 
a very little less than $20,000,000 (^3,976,582), or about $112.50 a 
share. 



PANORAMA OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 

The Suez Canal is, perhaps, the most important artificial water- 
course in the world. 

We here give a panorama of the canal. It gives a clear view of 
the whole canal and military field, as will be seen by examining the 
figures and the following key with explanations. 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 



20I 



(i) Port Said is situated at the opening of the canal on the 
European side. The town sprang into life during the building of 
the canal. It has a noble harbor, so large that twenty linc-of-battle 
ships can swing at anchor in it. 

For some twenty-six miles from the Port the canal passes over the 
bed of an extinct lake. On the western side lies Lake Menzaleh. 
(2) At No. 3 is El Kantara ; at No. 4, the ruins of Peluse ; at 
No. 5 is Katieh, and No. 6 marks the site of the ancient canal 
of Necos. 




At 7 is El Guisr, the highest point of land on the canal. Here 
the banks of the water-course are eighty-five feet high. About two 
miles beyond is Lake Timsah, where the town of Ismailia lies. 

This is a canal town, the headquarters of the Canal Company, and 
only Europeans are allowed a residence there. 

No. 9 is Cheik Ennedah, an ancient tomb. No. 10 is an 
aqueduct. No. 11 is the mouth (^{ an ancient canal, and 12 a 
salt-water lake. No. 13 is a road; 14, the road from Suez to 
Cairo; 15, the first encampment of M. de Lesscps, the builder of the 



202 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

canal; i6 and 17, the wells of Suez; and 18, the reservoirs of the 
Nile. 

The Attaka Mountains are at 19, and the town of Suez at 20. 
The harbor of Suez is marked by 21 ; and the Teel Mountains, stretch- 
ing towards the southeast and Mount Sinai, by 22. 

The isthmus through which the canal passes is ninety-five miles in 
width, and a careful examination of the plan will reveal an unex- 
pected point of the strength or weakness of the military campaign. 

No. 10 is a fresh-water canal, and brings the fresh-water 
supply from Zagazig, half-way between Cairo and Ismailia. This 
supply is also conveyed to Suez and to Port Said. 



SIR GARNET WOLSELEY IN EGYPT. 

In 1882 Arabi Pasha, an Egyptian minister of war, rose in re- 
bellion against the weak, selfish, and unpopular Khedive ; and he 
carried with him the greater part of the Egyptian army. 

Arabi's purpose was to exclude England and all other foreign 
powers from interference in Egyptian affairs ; to dethrone the incom- 
petent Khedive, and to lead Egypt to enter upon. a new career. 

The decisive victory of the English over Arabi Pasha took place 
on the 14th of September. Sir Garnet Wolseley, at the head of the 
flower of the English army, composed of guardsmen, Highlanders and 
the Royal Irish Brigade, — a force numbering fifteen thousand men, 
— on that day assailed and quickly vanquished the main body of the 
Egyptians at Tel-el-Kebir. 

This place is between Ismailia, which formed the base of 
Wolseley 's operations, midway on the Suez Canal, and Grand Cairo, 
the capital of Egypt, situated in the interior. 

The English not only routed Arabi's army, but took Arabi him- 
self and his principal officers prisoners, and by a rapid forced march 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 203 

captured Cairo without resistance, and so practically scaled the 
English victory and put an end to the Egyptian war. 

Wolseley's exploit was only a brilliant one in its quickness and its 
completeness. Arabi's trained force comprised only ten thousand 
soldiers. The rest of his army consisted of Bedouin Arabs, fellahs, 
irregulars, and stupid peasants, fresh from their fields, undrilled and 
undisciplined. 

The purpose of England was attained. Egypt lies prostrate at 
the feet of the British throne. The English are the masters of her 
future. The Egyptian ruler must become the obedient instrument, if 
not the satrap, of the victorious power. 

A few years ago, the name of Garnet Wolseley was quite 
unknown beyond the limits of the British army. To-day he is the 
most distinguished living English soldier. 

Lord Wolseley mainly served as a staff -officer until he won a 
general command. Yet he has been more actively engaged in warlike 
enterprises, and has seen more active service, than any living English 
soldier. At the age of forty he found himself a major-general ; this 
beino-, in the British armv, the next orrade above a colonel. He had 
risen rapidly from one staff appointment to another, from assistant 
engineer to adjutant-general; but every promotion was awarded as a 
result of his ability and success, and not by reason of wealth or social 
influence. 

The world first heard of him in the brief, brilliant campaign which 
he made seven or eight years ago in Ashantee. There he held the 
chief command of the army which so quickly and completely defeated 
King Coffee and his sable forces. Wolseley's conduct of that cam- 
paign was so signally able that when the revolt of Arabi broke out 
in Egypt, he was at once designated as the man of all others to 
subdue it. 

Leaving England late in August, he declared that he would return 
and dine at his club on the 15th of September. 



204 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Curiously enough, the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, in which he utterly 
demolished Arabi, and ended the war, took place on that very day; 
and although Wolseley did not dine in London, he showed by his 
playful boast how perfect were his plans, and how exact were his cal- 
culations of the time it would take him to put down the revolt. 



THE FALSE PROPHET. 

For a very long time a tradition has floated among the Moham- 
medans of the East that a new prophet would arise in 1882. 

This prophet would rekindle the waning faith and the warlike 
spirit of the followers of Mahomet everywhere. He would free the 
faithful people of Allah from bondage to other nations, restore to the 
Caliph (the Sultan) his lost possessions and his decreased power, and 
would fire the world of Islam with a new crusade. It is thus that 
the tradition has been repeated from mouth to mouth in the bazaars of 
Constantinople, among the marts of Damascus, and in the streets and 
temples of Holy Mecca. 

In 1882 an obscure Arab suddenly announced himself as the 
prophet whom the tradition had foreshadowed. He rapidly gathered 
to himself a semi-barbarous army, raised the sacred standard of Islam, 
and began his crusade. 

But he was soon denounced in the great temple at Mecca by the 
Grand Sheriff as an impostor, and was branded as " a false prophet ; " 
and ever since he has been called by that epithet. 

Yet he has resolutely reasserted his prophetic power and mission, 
and marched, with his savage array of troops, into the heart of lower 
Egypt. He captured the Soudan, the southern province conquered 
and annexed several years ago by the Egyptian Khedive Ismail. 

For a long time El Mahdi did not seem to be formidable. But at 
last the Khedive sent against him an army of some twelve thousand 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 207 

men, commanded by an English officer named Hicks, Pasha. This 
force encountered El Mahdi at Obeid, only to be defeated, and slain 
almost to a man. 

And then the False Prophet, flushed with victory, occupied the 
greater part of the Soudan, and threatened the Egyptian fortresses 
in the valleys of the upper Nile. The Khedive, unaided cannot hope 
to put down this audacious foe. 



KHARTOUM. 

Khartoum is at the junction of two rivers, which used to be called 
the White Nile and the Blue Nile, from the color of their waters. We 
now know that the White Nile is the Nile, the wondrous stream that 
rises in the great lakes of Central Africa, flows nortliward three thou- 
sand three hundred and seventy miles, and empties into the Mediter- 
ranean Sea; while the Blue Nile is but a tributary, which rises in 
Abyssinia, flows nine hundred and sixty miles, and pours into the Nile 
at Khartoum. 

What North America was to the world of business and enterprise 
in 1755, Africa now is; and what Fort Duquesne was to North Amer- 
ica, Khartoum is to Africa. 

Like Pittsburg, Khartoum is the terminus of one great region and 
the beginning of a greater. It is the depot of what civilization pro- 
duces, and the starting-place of the caravans which convey its products 
to the negro tribes that can give ivory, gold, oil, and cotton in ex- 
chanw for them. Above all, it is the centre, the strono;hold, and the 
chief mart of the slave-trade, which, profitable as it is, is death to all 
other trade, and is opposed both to the interests and to the feelings 
of the English people. 

With an English garrison and an English governor at Khartoum, 
the slave-trade in Africa ceases, and the Dark Continent is practically 



2o8 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

added to the domain of civilization. If the reader will study a recent 
map of Africa in the light of the explorations of Baker, Speke, Stanley, 
and others, he will perceive that Nature has done her part towards the 
creation of populous and wealthy States in the interior of that great 
continent. 

Khartoum in 1819, like our own Chicago, was a mere military post, 
established by the forethought of Mehemet Ali. It became speedily 
the centre of the trade in gum-arabic, ivory, and palm-oil, and its 
population increased. 

For many years Khartoum was one of the most doleful and deadly 
places on earth. When Sir Samuel and Lady Baker first saw it, in 
June, 1862, they found it filthy, unhealthy, and utterly repulsive to 
every human sense. 

The point of land at the junction of the two rivers was lined with 
miserable huts, and the land was so low that these latter were liable to 
be overflowed. All around, as far as the eye could reach, was nothing 
but a sandy desert. A swarm of thirty thousand half-naked and dirty 
people were huddled together in the town, which had neither drains 
nor cesspools ; and if an animal died in the street, the carcass remained 
to create pestilence. 

GENERAL GORDON. 

General Gordon was sent to Khartoum about a year ago, by the 
English Government, to try and bring safely away from that desert- 
bound fortress the Egyptian garrison and population. The Egyptians 
were threatened by the barbaric hordes of the Mahdi, or False Prophet ; 
and as Egypt, by the advice, or rather command, of England had re- 
solved to give up the Soudan, it became necessary to withdraw the 
Egyptian garrisons from that country. 

General Gordon went thither, unattended even by the smallest mili- 
tary force, with only one or two companions, and armed only with a 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 



?09 



simple walking-stick; he crossed the desert amid hostile Arab tribes 
holding his life in the hollow of his hand at every stage of his strange 
journey. 

He reached Khartoum in safety, took command of the garrison, 




(.; \ 






BOATS ON THE NILE. 



and at once set to work at his task. But before he could find a way 
to retire from Khartoum with the Egyptian soldiers and people, he 
found himself hemmed in by the Mahdi's savage forces. He not only 
could not get the Egyptians out, but he found his own path back to 
civilization closed upon him. 

H 



2IO ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

It is only a wonder how this heroic Christian soldier had been 
able so long to keep his fierce foe at bay. ' His force in Khartoum was 
small, and far from brave or well-disciplined. It was only with great 
difficulty that he could keep the desert city provided with provisions. 
Starvation must have many times stared him in the face. 

At last it became clear that without the aid of. a large force of 
British troops, Gordon could never get away from Khartoum. Accord- 
ingly Lord Wolseley, whose fame had been won by his success on 
Egyptian battle-grounds, was sent to the Soudan to rescue him, at the 
head of a well-appointed army. 

But Lord Wolseley was too -late. As soon as a portion of his 
force could make its way up the Nile near to Khartoum, it was dis- 
covered that the fortress was in the hands of the Mahdi, and that 
General Gordon, as well as a large part of the Egyptians, had been 
massacred. 

Egypt — which means England — has for the present abandoned 
the Soudan. Every month makes the condition of Egypt more abject 
and pitiable. But — in this interpolated chapter — we are getting 
in advance of the time of our story. 



CHAPTER X. 




THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 

Scenes in Jewish History. — The "Miracle" of the Holy Fire. — Stories of 

Solomon. 

HITHER the tribes go up." 

Jerusalem is a mountain 

city. It is the dwellers upon 

^ the mountains who have been 

great in the thought of the 

world. The great prophets, 

great poets, great scientists of 

the past have nearly all come 

down from the mountain-tops. The Hebrews were the religious 

people of the ancient world. Their throne was upon the mountains. 

From the Dead Sea to the Jordan the region about Jerusalem is an 
ascent and descent, — mountain stairs. Jerusalem stands some twenty- 
five hundred feet above the Mediterranean, and nearly four thousand 
feet above the Dead Sea. The summits that Jerusalem crowns seem 
low^, because the ascent is even and gradual. 

The city was built on two hills, Zion and Moriah. It is sur- 
rounded by a massive w^all, built by Soliman the Magnificent. The 
Jerusalem of antiquity lies under ground. The underground cham- 
bers, caverns, and catacombs constitute a city grander in its plan 
and purpose than that which we now see, but over which the earth 



212 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



has drawn her mysterious covering. The tombs of five thousand years 
are there ; the two mountains are the monuments of a dead nation. . 

The*present city covers something less than the space between 
Oxford Street and Piccadilly in London, and is only about two and a 



'^cW^- — -^ ^^s 




.yV^ 










HILLS AND WALLS OF JERUSALEM 



quarter miles in circumference. It is divided into three principal 
quarters, — the Mohammedan, the Jewish, and the Christian, — and con- 
tains less than twenty thousand inhabitants. Its principal points of 
interest, beyond its historic associations and antiquities, are the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre and the Mosque of Omar. 

The Mosque of Omar stands on the site of the ancient temple, on 



'"'*llilWlfc 




THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 215 

Mount Moriah. The place is associated, either in history or poetic 
tradition, with the tomb of Adam, the sacrifice of Abraham, and the 
throne of Melchisedec. Here the angel of the Lord appeared to 
David; here David erected an altar; here rose the temples of Solomon, 
Zerubbabel, and Herod ; and here was the palace of Solomon. The 
ruined fortress of Antonia was here, and the ruins of all now lie at the 
base of a Mohammedan mosque. 

Moriah and Zion were once beautiful, and, crowned with pinnacles 
and palaces, rose above a region waving with palm groves and green 
with pastoral valleys. Their beauty is gone. The stones of the ruins 
that they hide have all been washed with human blood. " Thou 
turnest man to destruction, and sayest. Return, ye children of men." 

In the day of her beauty, prophets and evangelists pictured her in 
their poems as the type of the celestial city. The siege of Titus 
caused the death of a million of people ; the mountains ran with blood 
on the day that the Holy of Holies was burned ; and the leaders of the 
triumphant Crusade are said to have ridden through rivers of blood 
as they planted the cross on the sacred places. 

Seven hundred years before Rome was founded the children of 
Judah fought for Jerusalem. David there contended with the Jebu- 
sites. The King of Egypt forced its gates, and carried away the 
splendid treasures of Solomon. The city was again pillaged in 887 b. c., 
and the treasures of the temple carried away to the temple of Baal. 
Siege followed siege ; the sixth siege was by the King of Syria, the 
eighth siege by the King of Babylon. The Assyrians left it a desola- 
tion. Fifty years its ruins lay as silent as its stones. Alexander 
spared the city, at the entreaty of Jaddua, who came out to meet him 
in robes of hyacinth and gold. 

It fell before the Ptolemies. *It was taken by Antiochus. It was 
brought under the rule and influence of Greece. The siege of Herod 
was the nineteenth, and that of Titus, which resulted in the dispersion 
of the Jews, the twentieth. Conquered and pillaged by every nation, 



2l6 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



the city of Mount Moriah lived on : it fell, always to rise again. The 
cities of all her conquerors are dead, — Babylon is a pool, desert winds 
sweep over the Persepolis, Thebes is a wilderness of ruins, Carthage 
is hardly remembered, — but Jerusalem lives; a remnant of the eternal 
nation survives. Could the scattered Hebrews be brought together 
from the cities of the world to Jerusalem, the city would be one 




THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. 



of almost unequalled intelligence, virtue, and wealth ; the ancient 
structures might rise again, for the Hebrews control the treasuries 
of Europe, and have never forgotten the records of the past and the 
inspirations of their Prophets, whose moral laws and precepts govern 
the whole enlightened world. 

The first visit of our tourists was to the place where the temple 
had stood, and where now is the Mosque of Omar. The boys read no 




INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. 



THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 219 

books at Jerusalem ; they trusted for information to the learning, the 
imagination, and the willing tongue of Ali Bedair. 

The old interpreter talked all the time. The wisdom of the world 
seemed stored in his brain, and only waiting for ears to feed. 

But the purpose of our tourists and that of Ali Bedair in the study 
of the holy places was quite different. The former wished most to 
see the places associated with the life of Him whose gospel liad said 
to the world, " Give up yourself and live for the good of others, and 
God will dwell in your spirit, and make his temple there, and you shall 
have the ever present evidence of the truth ; " who loved others more 
than himself, and redeemed mankind ; whose kingdom was to be a 
spiritual growth and power, and not vanish like the kingdoms of men. 

Old Ali Bedair talked constantly of Solomon ; but his companions 
as constantly felt that once a "greater than Solomon" was here. 

"There the temple once lifted its gates of gold," said Ali Bedair; 
" and there its gates of gold shall be lifted'again, some day." 

" How large was the temple of Solomon } " asked Wyllys 
Winn. 

" The temple itself was small, but it was plated with gold. It 
was only about ninety feet long, and thirty wide. But what of that? 
A little diamond is worth a mountain of glass. When I say that the 
temple was small, I mean the sanctuary alone. It had a noble court 
and broad surroundings. It was built after the pattern of the taber- 
nacle, and the tabernacle resembled the plan of an Egyptian temple. 
It contained thousands of tons of gold and silver; its floor was paved 
with gold. Its capitals, cornices, and mouldings blossomed with golden 
lilies ; its golden pinnacle rose over the city like a crown, and blazed 
in the rising and setting sun. But what was all this gold to the 
Shekinah that shone between the cherubs of the Mercy Seat } " 

" Where did Solomon secure his gold 1 " asked Wyllys. 

" From Ophir." 

" Yes ; but I asked to get your views about Ophir." 



220 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



" Tarshish was Spain," said the interpreter. " There can be no 
doubt of that. I think Ophir was India." 
"Why.?" 




THE JEWS' PLACE OF WAILING. 



" Sandalwood, apes, peacocks, spices, and ivory are the products 
of India. The ships of Tyre visited India, and that country was 
doubtless then in the fulness of her wealth and prosperity. 

" Let us now go to the Place of Wailing," said Ali Bedair ; and 
he led them to a court, surrounded on three sides by an ancient wall. 



,M: 



f 



u/ 





THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 223 

It was a desolate place, one of the bare walls rising high above the 
enclosure; and here was a row of aged Jews, with their faces turned 
towards the huge blocks of stone. It touched the hearts of the boys 
to see old All join this helpless and hopeless row of men, and lean 
his head against one of the blocks of stone, and give expression to his 
grief over the desolation of his country in a deep and despairing lam- 
entation, followed by an ancient prayer. 



THE MIRACLE OF THE HOLY FIRE. 

The deception we are about to describe is practised on the Greek 
Easter. It is a disgrace to the Greek priesthood, and to Christianity 
in the East. The more intelligent Greek Christians — among them, the 
priests themselves — know it to be an imposture, and speak of it as such ; 
but the ignorant and superstitious demand the miracle, and were it to 
be denied them, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre would lose much 
of its influence over the common people and also one of its revenues. 
The dramatic event of the Greek Easter is still the Holy Fire. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has an air of antiquity, but 
is hardly imposing. It stands within the modern city, but on a site 
that was once presumably outside the wall. It is Byzantine in archi- 
tecture, and stands in an enclosed court in which relics are sold to 
pilgrims, who flock here on the days of religious festivals, especially 
on Easter. The Holy Sepulchre stands under the great dome, and 
is surrounded by golden lamps, and a ceiling of gold, silver, and pre- 
cious stones. Around the circular hall of the Sepulchre are chapels 
for all Christian sects. The church is allotted by the Mohammedan 
Government to all Christian communions. 

On entering the church, the visitor is shown the Stone of Unction, 
which is said to mark the spot where our Lord s body was laid after 
having been taken from the cross. The supposed associations of 
Calvary are here. 



224 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



The holy place is divided into two chapels, — one called the Sepul- 
chre, and tke other the Chapel of the Angels. At the entrance to 




THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



the Chapel of the Angels are gigantic wax candles, lighted only on 
notable days. Here pilgrims take off their shoes, as the place is 



regarded as sacred. 




VIEW IN THE VALLEY OF THE JORDAN. 



THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 227 

On either side of the entrance of the Chapel are two apertures, 
through which the holy fire is given on the Greek Easter. The forty 
or more lamps in the tomb chamber are kept burning day and 
nio^ht. 

Near the entrance to the church is the so-called Tomb of Adam. 
Here both Adam and Melchisedec are supposed to have been buried. 
The cross, according to the received tradition in the East, was erected 
at Adam's tomb. Golgotha was the place of Adam's skull (Matt. 
xxvii. 33). 

Pilgrims from all the Christian countries of the East come to Jeru- 
salem to celebrate Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and to 
see the miracle of the Holy Fire. The crowd within and without the 
church is so great that companies of Turkish soldiers are required to 
preserve order. 

Our tourists went to the church early, and were assigned places in 
a gallery. The church filled with pilgrims. All eyes were directed 
towards the Chapel of the Angels. The crowds were silent, but on 
every face was a look of excitement. Some were dressed in sheep- 
skin, some were almost naked, some were princely in their attire. 

Suddenly a procession began to move around. Then came a 
procession with banners. 

The excitement of the pilgrims became intense. The poor dupes 
of the long superstition confidently believed that the fire of Heaven 
was about to come down. But — 

The presence of Turks is supposed to prevent the descent of the 
fire. The visitors were amazed to see the Greek Christians expel the 
Turkish soldiers from the church. There was a mob, a victory ; but 
no one seemed to be injured. All was but a part of a prearranged 
and well-acted play. 

The Bishop of the Holy Fire now entered the Chapel, and the 
door was closed behind him. The crowds now surged and pressed 
upon each other, and the excitement grew. All pictured in their 



228 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

minds the scene in the chapel, and beheved that a holy man had gone 
there to receive from heaven the very fire of God. 

A priest stood at the aperture on the outside of the chapel, to re- 
ceive the fire from the bishop, when it should descend upon the tomb. 

There are places in Jerusalem where the selling of tapers for the 
supposed miracle is a business in Lent. The pilgrims bring with 
them candles or tapers to be lit by the celestial fire. 

A thrilling moment now arrived. Dark arms and tapers were 
thrust into the air. They looked from the gallery like branches of 
trees. 

There was a flash in the aperture. Every form below quivered 
with excitement. Celestial beings were in the chapel. The fire of 
heaven had come. Could a Greek bishop be deceiving the multitude 
on a day and in a place like this } 

The priest received the flame through the aperture. He communi- 
cated it to the tapers near him. The flame spread from taper to taper, 
from hand to hand. One taper became ten; ten, a hundred; a hun- 
dred, a thousand. Then thousands upon thousands of lights filled 
every part of the church. The church was a wall of fire. The air 
was suffocating. The flames spread, — into the court, into the streets, 
into the houses. Jerusalem blazed. The city was a sea of fire, kin- 
dled, it was believed, by the torch of an angel or the hand of God. 

The bishop in the Chapel of Angels, who alone has witnessed the 
stupendous miracle, faints. Priests bear him out. It ought to make 
any bishop faint, in reality, to take such a weight of guilt upon his 
soul. 

Our tourists found good quarters, for the East, in the Mediterranean 
Hotel. After long visits to the holy places, Ali Bedair would enter- 
tain them with romantic tales of the Hebrew race. Some of these 
were quite Arabian in their colorings ; for the old interpreter, like all 
Orientals, loved a royally embellished story. His favorite hero was 
King Solomon. 




COMING TO SEE THE MIRACLE. 



THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 23 1 



THE WONDERFUL TRAVELS OF KING SOLOMON. 

King Solomon had under his command an army of genii, or jinns, — spirits 
of the air, — who were ready to execute whatever he wished or commanded. 

While his palace was building he determined to visit the ancient city of 
Damascus, and summoned a jinn to carry him thither in his invisible wings. 
As he was thus journeying through the air, he came to the valley of ants, and 
was greatly astonished at the sight of the ants' habitations. The ants them- 
selves were as big as wolves, and countless as to number ; and their dwelling- 
places stretched farther than the eye could see. 

He commanded the jinn to stop in the valley, and he there went to the 
queen of the ants and took her into his arms. 

" I am greater than thou," said the queen. 

" How } " asked Solomon, in surprise. 

" Thy throne is made of gold and gems, is it not .-* " asked the queen. 

" It is." 

" My throne has become greater." 

••' How > " 

" Is it not thyself ? " 

Solomon was greatly delighted with the wisdom of the compliment, and 
commanded the jinn to proceed on his way towards Damascus. 

Solomon resolved that on his future journeys he would take his servants 
with him ; and so he ordered the jinns to manufacture a great carpet of silk, so 
stout that a great retinue of people might be borne on it through the region of 
the air. The carpet was woven ; but it proved too small for his purpose, and he 
then ordered the jinns to make for him a carpet on which could be transported 
a whole caravan. 

He wished to visit Medina. The sun was fierce, and to make a shadow he 
ordered the whole family of birds to fly above the magic carpet in such a way 
that their wings might make a beautiful feathered canopy. 

He dared not trust the jinns out of his sight on these aerial journeys ; so 
he drank from goblets of crystal, that nothing might come between his eyes and 
the sight of the jinns. 

On his return from Medina he perceived that there was a little aperture in 
the great canopy of the wings of the birds, through which the sunlight fell on 
the magnificent carpet, much to the discomfort of the caravan resting upon it. 



232 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



He called the eagle to him, and asked it what bird was missing. 
" The peewit." 

Now, the peewit was a little bird of wonderful wisdom. It could discover 
hidden wells and fountains in the desert. 




THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 



" Go, search the sky and the earth, and bring back the peewit," said Solo- 
mon. The simple bird was the most useful in the family, just as a little 
diamond may be of more value than a mountain of glass. 

The eagle soared aloft until the earth seemed no larger than a golden bowl. 
He pierced the transparent air with his clear eye, and at last beheld the peewit 
amid the rosy atmospheres of the South. 



THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 233 

The eagle brought the peewit to Solomon, who had threatened a severe 
punishment upon it. Solomon arose with a frown. 

"I will judge thee," said the king. 

"Then be merciful," said the peewit ; "for thou shalt thyself be judged." 

The peewit trembled, and its wings fell quivering upon the ground. 

" How canst thou excuse thyself for thy absence .'* " asked the king. 

" I have discovered a country." 

" A country } " 

" Yes, Sheba. And a beautiful queen, — Balkis." 

" I never heard of her." 

" She commands an army that is led by twelve thousand chiefs." 

Then Solomon greatly wondered, and commanded that the peewit be pro- 
tected from harm. 

He sat down and wrote a letter to the Queen of Sheba, and gave it to the 
peewit to carry to her. 

The peewit was delighted, and flew like an arrow of light, and delivered the 
letter to the beautiful queen. 

The queen broke the seal, and read it with great surprise. The letter was 
as follows : — 

" Greeting to thee and thine, 

" From me, King Solomon, — 

" Lord and King over the wild beasts, and the birds of heaven, * 

" Over the evil spirits and the ghosts of the night, and all kings from the rising to the 
setting sun. 

" Come and greet me. 

'• If thou wilt come and greet me, I will show thee honor above all the kings who 
prostrate themselves before me." 

The queen sent an embassy to Solomon with a letter. 

" If he receives you with arrogance," she said, " do not fear. Pride is an 
evidence of weakness." 

The embassy was very splendid, a procession of gems and gold. Solomon 
received the letter graciously, and without opening it, told the ambassadors the 
contents. 

The queen had sent to the king a crystal goblet. She had told her 
ambassadors that if Solomon were indeed a prophet, he would fill it with water 
that came neither from the earth nor from heaven. 

The ambassadors were surprised to hear the king command a negro slave 



2 34 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

to bridle a young horse, and gallop it about the plain, and then return it 
to him. 

The horse was returned after a time, steaming with perspiration. Then 
the king filled the chalice with water that came neither from the earth nor 
from heaven. 

The ambassadors returned to the queen, and told her all that they had 
seen. 

" It is indeed true," said the queen. " I must visit this wise and gracious 
monarch, and do him homage." 



THE QUEEN OF SHEBA'S CURIOUS PRESENT. 

The Queen of Sheba, with her twelve thousand generals and all their armies, 
came to visit Solomon. 

Solomon received the queen, sitting upon his throne, in the palace of cedar 
and gold. 

The queen determined to put his wisdom to an immediate test. 

Her court was skilled in flower-making. The imitations of flowers were so 
perfect that the most skilful botanists could not tell the artificial flowers from 
the real. 

The queen brought to the king two wreaths of flowers, exactly alike in 
appearance, though one was real and the other artificial. 

" O king," she said, approaching him demurely but graciously, " I offer thee 
choice of these two wreaths ; which will you have.'' " 

Solomon looked at the beautiful wreaths. His eye could detect no difference 
between them. 

It was a glowing day. Outside of the palace were gardens, and a window 
looked out upon them. 

Solomon knew how to discover the secrets of the vegetable world by the 
instincts of the beasts, birds, and insects. 

Outside of the window he saw some honey-bees spinning through the 
warm air. 

" Open the window," he said to an attendant. 

The south wind came into the golden hall of the palace, and with it a part 
of a swarm of honey-bees. The bees began to alight on one of the wreaths 
that the queen held in her hand, but they avoided the other. 



THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 



235 



" O queen, the bees have chosen for me." 

Then the queen was made to see that wisdom was the greatest of all worldly 
endowments, and that Solomon was truly a prophet of wisdom. 




THE QUEEN OF SHEBA AND SOLOMON. 



The heart of Solomon turned away from the faith of his fathers 
and the simplicity of the days of the Judges. Egypt glowed in his 
mind, and one of the most beautiful of all his works was built for his 
Egyptian queen. With pride came humiliation ; with self-seeking, 
loss. 

His works of stone and marble and sjold have vanished, but the 



236 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



truth that he taught and wrote remains ; for truth is eternal, wherever 

it is found. 

The spiritual life taught in the Scriptures is the treasure of the 
world, and will always be so ; for men will always seek their highest 
happiness in spiritual things. The invisible kingdom that the 
Prophets heralded, lives and will increase while the world shall last. 
But, standing in Jerusalem, superstition clouds the glory of the past. 




THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 



One here seems to hear the voice of Him who redeemed mankind, still 
saying : " Neither shall ye say, Lo here ! or Lo there ! for the kingdom 
of God is within you." High above monuments and ruins is en- 
throned forever the truth that the Messiah spoke to the Samaritan 
woman at the well. 

The visit to the Garden of Gethsemane was made on a Sabbath 
afternoon, the day following Easter week. A few gnarled olive-trees 



THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 237 

and a plain enclosure was all ; and yet here the travellers felt a strange 
and tender awe, for here they were brought face to face with a fact that 
had changed the spiritual history of the world. 

Two thousand years ago there came to this spot, or near it, a 
Being who had come from God. He was deserted. Here he bowed 
beneath the sorrows of the world, prayed, and went forth to die. 

He had preached the gospel of a spiritual life. That fact lives ; 
it multiplies ; it is eternal. Egypt is dead ; her palaces are dust ; her 
monuments crumble in the blaze of the sun. Thebes and Memphis 
have vanished from the earth ; but the words of Jesus live, — the words 
of Him whose passion was to redeem the world, re-create the soul in 
celestial love, and purchase for it an eternal destiny of happiness. 

It is the custom of parties visiting Gethsemane to hold devotional 
exercises. A clergyman often accompanies such visitors. But Ali 
Bedair at first seemed as indifferent to the scene as the gnarled olive- 
trees, and almost as silent. He made but a single remark, and there 
was a volume in the thought. 

" You Western people seem happier than we, in the belief that you 
have a Saviour." 

Several of the boys had fine voices. 

" Sino^ " said Mr. Leland. 

No one seemed to recall an appropriate hymn, 

" I think of two hymns about the Garden," at last said Wyllys 
Winn. " My poor dead mother used to sing them about her daily 
work, for we were in poor circumstances then. I would love to sing 
one of them here. She never thought that I would recall them in 
this place." 

The boys listened with more tenderness of feeling than they had 
before experienced in their journey. Even the eyes of old Ali 
Bedair seemed to moisten at last, and all hearts to throb alike in 
sympathy. 



238 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



GETHSEMANE. 

While Nature was sinking in stillness to rest, 
The last beam of daylight shone dim in the west, 
O'er fields by pale moonlight I wandered abroad ; 
In deep meditation I thougiit on my God. 

While passing a garden, I paused to hear 
A voice faint and plaintive from one that was near ; 
The voice of the suff'rer affected my heart, 
While pleading in anguish the poor sinner's part. 

I listened a moment, then turned me to see 
What man of compassion this stranger might be ! 
I saw him low kneeling upon the cold ground, 
The loveliest being that ever was found. 

So deep were his sorrows, so fervent his prayers, 

That down o'er his bosom rolled sweat, blood, and tears 

I wept to behold him, I asked him his name ; 

He answered, " 'T is Jesus ! from heaven I came ! 

" I am thy Redeemer ! for thee I must die ; 
The cup is most bitter, but cannot pass by ! 
Thy sins, like a mountain, are laid upon me ; 
And all this deep anguish I suffer for thee ! " 




CHAPTER XL 

"EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM." 
Church of the Nativity. — Ruth. — The Hebrew Prophets. 

ET us now go even unto Bethlehem." They had tarried 
a week at Jerusalem. 

The preparation for the journey had been made on 
the day previous. All had eagerly anticipated a visit to 
Bethlehem, and had kept it steadily in view since they 
entered the Holy Land. 

The sun was two hours high when they rode out of the Jaffa 
gate of Jerusalem. The escort turned southward across the Plain of 
Rephaim, on the old, long-travelled road leading to Bethlehem. Here 
they found a delightful country, full of wild-flowers. Bands of pilgrims 
passed them, returning from a visit to Bethany. 

Approaching the solitary convent of Mar Elias, in the hill country, 
they were soon reminded of the antiquity of the way by coming upon 
a pure cool well, which the guide informed them was associated in 
tradition with the journey of the Magi. 

" The wise men," said he, " came to this well in their night journey, 
and here paused, uncertain as to their future course. While in doubt, 
they stooped over the brink to draw water, and there beheld the Star 
of Bethlehem mirrored on the still surface below. They looked up, 
saw it shining overhead, and followed its course to the manger." 

The principal object that they met in their journey — an object 
that was only second in interest to them to the town of Bethlehem 



240 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

itself — was the tomb of Rachel. It is a solemn and solitary structure, 
with httle that is picturesque in its appearance. That it covers the 
dust of Rachel, there is no doubt. The Jew, the Moslem, and the 
Christian honor it alike, and agree in their traditions concerning it. 




BETHLEHEM. 



Hard by this simple but long-enduring sepulchre, Jacob's tents 
were pitched at the time of Rachel's death. Moses tells us that the 
sepulchre was standing when the children of Jacob were restored to 
the land of their ancestry, and Samuel speaks of " Rachel's sepulchre 



(,, 



i ■ 






9' 



illM^ 




•EVEN UNTO Bethlehem:' 



24: 



in the border of Benjamin." Josephus alludes to it as " over against 
Ephrath " (Bethlehem). The Jews have recently succeeded in pur- 
chasing from the Moslems this shrine of their common mother. 

Bethlehem ! As they drew near the venerable city, whose history 
dates back to almost the first records of the human race, the past 
seemed to start into living reality. Here dwelt Christ's ancestry in 
the flesh ; here in the far past Jacob pitched his pastoral tent, breathed 
the scented airs of these flowery plains, and gazed upon the stars that 
shone upon the path of the Magi, and that still set their fadeless 
diadems in the evening sky. 

From this place Naomi went forth to the land of Moab, and re- 
turned at the beginning of the barley harvest, bringing Ruth with her. 

Time passed on. Jacob sleeps with his fathers. Naomi and Ruth 
and Obed are gone, and Jesse dwells in Bethlehem. On the neigh- 
boring hills David tends his sheep. Here the Spirit of God visits the 
simple shepherd-boy, and the awe-inspiring prophet comes and anoints 
him King of Israel. 

The kingdom of David rises in power; the temple is built, and 
the typical glory of Christ is shown. Solomon is here consecrated, 
and Judaism attains the summit of its worldly grandeur. 

Time passes on. In Bethlehem a virgin's Child is born. It lies 
humbly in a manger, while the glory of God blazes through the mid- 
night gloom. The sky, the hills, the vales, the rocks, of Bethlehem 
saw these things. They heard the heavenly song, saw the coming of 
the Magi, and the going forth of the " young child and its mother " 
into Egypt. 

Time passed, and the shadows of Judaism flee away. A greater 
Light illumines the nations of the world ; and Bethlehem, like a 
monument, sits solitary amid her vine-clad hills. 

The town stands upon a limestone ridge, and seemed to display 
much of its traditional beauty as it rose before them in the sun. But 
the streets are narrow and dirty, and the houses ill-kept in repair. 



244 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

One not unpleasant sight at once recalled the former fruitfulness 
of the country, — the land of vines and flowers, the land once flowing 
with milk and honey. Rows of beehives were ranged along the flat 
roofs of the house-tops, evidently well stored with honey from the 
apricots, plums, pomegranates, and figs, that beyond the town stand 
blooming or fruiting in the hot sun. 

It was market-day, and the old streets were crowded. Here were 
huge clusters of grapes as fragrant and delicious as those the spies 
brought from Eshcol. Here were pomegranates, or Syrian apples, 
which recalled the golden bells that hung upon the hem of the ephod, 
made in the semblance of the fruit and flower. 

Figs in baskets displayed a lusciousness unknown except in the 
East, and olives and olive-oil recalled the Scriptural figure, " a land of 
wine and oil." The Moslems, however, do not drink wine ; and the 
juice of the grape, as here used, is not intoxicating. 
. Bethlehem, though under Moslem rule, is, in itself, a Christian 
town, thus retaining not only its ancient expression, but its ancient 
traditions. The first aim of every traveller is to visit the Church of 
the Nativity, which is the oldest Christian edifice in the world. 

The basilica over the Grotto of the Nativity — a place which tra- 
dition associates with Christ's birth — was erected by the Empress 
Helena in 327. It is 120X no feet, and is supported by Corinthian 
columns of marble, which may have previously belonged to the porches 
of the temple at Jerusalem. This famous shrine of pilgrims is as 
ill-kept and neglected as the houses. The pavement is broken, and the 
mosaics which once adorned its walls have almost disappeared. The 
church is infested by noisy swarms of dealers in rosaries, crosses, 
carving on olive-wood, and mother-of-pearl from the Red Sea. 

The church belongs to the Greeks, Armenians, and Latins, each 
of which sects have staircases and passages to the sacred grottos un- 
der ground. From the Latin church a rock-hewn staircase passes 
through long subteri-anean passages to the tomb of St. Jerome. 



EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM: 



247 



An inner door opens, and we enter the chapel of the Nativity, a 
low-hewn vault in a rock. In the pavement of a small semicircular 
recess is a marble slab, in which is a silver star, with the words, 
" Here Jesus Christ was born of the' Virgin Mary." 

Sixteen silver lamps suspended around the star are constantly kept 
burning. The whole vault is overlaid with marble and paintings, and 
studded with gold and silver, and overhung with velvet, silk, and 
embroidery. 

That Christ was born in this place is certain, but there is no cer- 
tain evidence that this subterranean grotto is the exact place of the 
nativity. 

There is little in the place that appeals strongly to the Christian 
feeling; it displays Christianity in its corruption rather than in its 
simplicity and purity. There is something cold and expressionless in 
all this shadowy pomp, entirely out of keeping with the associations of 
the humble birth of Jesus of Nazareth. 

The sun was descending in a calm sky as our tourists departed 
from the city. They began to pass through great flocks of sheep and 
goats, and saw many shepherds. " And there were in the same 
country shepherds." It was the sight of these, and not the gemmed 
basilica that they had left, that seemed to vivify the past. 

Here Jacob and David kept their flocks, and here the shepherds 
saw the prophetic star and heard the chorus of the angels. The 
shadows grew long in the valleys ; and in the rosy and golden fringes 
of the twilight, melted away the sight of Bethlehem. 

The thoughts of the travelling company were centred upon the 
nativity, and the scenes that took place nearly two thousand years 
ago ; all except Ali Bedair's. The story of Ruth and of the family and 
shepherd days of David rose before him like a vision. It was a kindly 
thought in the old man, for Ruth was not a Jewess. The great-grand-* 
mother of King David, and loved mother in the line of Christ, was one 
of the first accessions of the Gentiles to the church of the ancient faith. 



248 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Ali's introduction to the well-known Scriptural story made the 
narrative clear. 

" The period of the Judges," he said, " was the Golden Age of 
Israel. It must have been in the old age of Eli that Ruth was born. 

" The temple had not yet arisen. There was no king. God 
cared for his people as a father, and the Judges ruled for God. 

"No one has told us that Ruth was fair; yet to every mind she 
is pictured as beautiful. Why do all the world so picture the face of 
Ruth .? 

" Because the true-hearted are always beautiful ; the history of a 
true-hearted man or woman always makes him beautiful. 

" Ruth loved the land where her husband was born. She was a 
true wife. Yet she had no children. 

" Ruth loved the mother of her dead husband, — her land was the 
land where the lovely Moabitess desired to live. 

" ' Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after 
thee : for whither thou ooest, I will ^o : where thou lodsrest, I will 
lodge : thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God : where 
thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried : the Lord do so to 
me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.' 

" Blessed Ruth ! she had chosen the true God. She followed her 
mother-in-law, to become a mother of a dynasty of kings. Her true 
heart had already crowned her a queen." 

At the hotel in Jerusalem, Mr. Leland read to all, including the 
old interpreter, the book of Ruth. The beautiful simplicity of its 
language, the tenderness of the narrative, and its lesson of the rewards 
of simple trust and fidelity, all had a charm and distinctness that only 
the visit to Bethlehem could have given it. 

The party spent one day, under old Ali's guidance, in visiting the 
places associated with Hebrew poets or seers. The first place visited 
was the Mosque of Omar, whose beautiful dome catches the eye of the 
traveller from afar. Until the time of the visit of the Prince of Wales. 



EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM: 



149 



Christians were not allowed to visit the interior of the mosque; but any 
one may do so now by paying a sum equal to about five dollars. 
Here, beneath thousands upon thousands of panes of brilliant-colored 
glass, was seen the ancient stone altar of King David, the historic 
threshing-floor of Aranath the Jebusite, the beginning of the three 
golden temples that were erected above it. The altar stone is about 
sixty feet by forty. It is a fitting monument of the religious life of 
David. The angel appeared to him here. It was the place of his 
religious experience, as Bethel or Luz, of Jacob's. 

The place associated with the revival of religious instruction under 
Ezra, and the pools of Siloam, the traditional place of the meditations 
of Isaiah, were also visited. 

David was the lyric poet of the Hebrews, but the great strain of 
the Hebrew race was sung by Isaiah. What other poet of all the 
past ever had an inspirational experience like his .^ In all the inspi- 
rations of the poets, none ever uttered such language as follows: — 

" I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, 
High and lifted up, 
And his train filled the temple. 
Above it stood the seraphims : 
Each one had six wings ; 
With twain he covered his face, 
And with twain he covered his feet, 
And with twain he did fly. 

" And one cried unto another, and said, 
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts : 
The whole earth is full of his glory. 

" The posts of the door moved 
At the voice of him that cried, 
And the house was filled with smoke. 

"Then said I, Woe is me ! 
For I am undone : because 
I am a man of unclean lips, 

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ; 
For mine eyes have seen the King, 
The Lord of hosts. 



250 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, 
Having a live coal in his hand, 
Which he had taken with the tongs 
From off the altar : 

" And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, 
Lo, this hath touched thy lips ; 
And thine iniquity is taken away, 
And thy sin purged. 

" Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? 
Then said I, 
Here am I; send me." 

The last visit of the company was to the church on the Mount 
of Olives, erected on the supposed spot where the Saviour ascended 
into heaven. Here was shown a stone with a fissure, from which it 
was claimed that the Saviour left the earth. The site may be that of 




THE CASTLE OF DAVID, AND JAFFA GATE. 

the Ascension, but the stone is doubtless an imposture. It is not 
important. It was not sites or holy places, but the descent of the 
Holy Spirit, that was to be the great fact of the Gospel, and the ground 
of faith in the Church. 



''EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM:' 



25^ 



THE PROPHETS OF JUDAH. 
I. 

DAVID. 

The night is still ; 

The oak of Mamre like a giant stands 

In the pale moon, and cool airs come from hills 

Mantled with olive gardens and the palm. 

I am 
The youngest of my father's sons — David — 
And the beloved oft am called. I was born, 
Like Isaac, out of time ; and, as the child 
Of his old age, my father's best affections 
Cling to me ; and here, near Hebron's sheepcotes. 
Where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, led their flocks. 




THE GRAND RANGE OF LEBANON. 



I love to tend my sheep, and in the vales, 
And on the borders of the clear, deep streams, 
And in the noontime shadows of the hills. 
To study all the handiwork of God. 



252 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



God's ways are wonderful ! 
Out of the nations of the earth he Israel 
Chose for his inheritance ; and out of Israel's 
Tribes he Judah chose ; and out of Judah's 
Tribe he chose my father's family ; 
And out of Jesse's sons he chooseth me. 

I do remember well the day — 
'T was at the new moon of the palmy year — 
When to the sacrificial feast at Bethlehem 
Thei-e came a man with flowing beard and long 
White hair ; and all the people stood in awe 
As he approached the altar. In his hand 
He bore a horn of holy oil, and beside him 
Led a heifer white as his own hair. 

I was among the flocks 
When, lo ! there came a messenger to me, 
And I was called to join my father's family. 
I lifted up my face in joy to God, 
Then left the white flocks in the valleys. 

The aged man 
Hailed me with gladness, boived his head, and said, 
"The Lord has chosen /«>//y" and then he poured 
Upon my head the holy oil, and then 
The heifer sacrificed, and, after, turned 
Away mysteriously as he had come. 

I returned 
To Hebron's sheepcotes, tuned my harp and sung, 
Out of the mouths of babes hath God perfected 
Praise. My head with oil he doth anoint, 
My cup with joy runs over ! 

'T is full-orbed night. 
The flocks that I have safely led all day 
To the refreshing pastures, cleft by streams, 
Now safely slumber ; not one of them is lost. 

The wind breathes through my harp 
As though an angel touched it, — my harp 
That I have carried long to cheer my thoughts 
Among these silent hills and lonesome valleys 
Of the shade of death. An inspiration 
In me wakes : ofttimes at night God gives 
Me songs, and I will touch again the sweet 
Low chords : 



''EVEN UNTO Bethlehem:' 



How beauteous is the night ! 
Alleluia ! 
The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, 
The firmament displays his glorious word 
In characters of light. 
Awake, my harp, awake ! 
Alleluia ! 

II. 

On such a night as this. 
Alleluia ! 
The Shiloh shall descend from heaven's throne ; 
The hosts cherubic the descent shall own 
In harmonies of bliss. 
' Awake, my harp, awake ! 
Alleluia ! 

III. 
The latter days I see. 
Alleluia ! 
Fairer than earthly sons, with lips of grace 
He comes, with mercy beaming in his face, 
To set sin's captives free. 
Awake, my harp, awake ! 
Alleluia ! 



Lift up your heads, ye gates ! 
Alleluia ! 
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ! 
To God earth's kingdom the Messiah restores 
That his salvation waits. 
Awake, my harp, awake ! 
Alleluia ! 



Glory to God on high ! 
Alleluia ! 
Yon star seems glowing over Bethlehem ; 
In all night's coronet the brightest gem, 
The fairest in the sky. 
Awake, my harp, awake ! 
Alleluia ! 



255 



256 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



I see what seers have seen, 

Alleluia ! 

And all my soul with holy rapture thrills; 

The dayspring breaks upon the dewy hills 

And on the pastures green. 

One sweet chord more awake ! 

Alleluia ! 



EZRA. 

When Israel's tribes, from Babylonia, pressing 
Towards Zion, raised their psalms, 

And once again their native vales possessing, 
Bowed 'neath the pastoral palms, 




GROTTO OF THE NATIVITY, BETHLEHEM. 

And saw the hills with purple vineyards growing 

Above the Jordan fair, — 
They called to mind the fiery pillar, glowing 

Amid the desert air. 



The ransomed chiefs recalled with joy, discerning 

The Hand that made them free, 
The far-off domes of Babylonia burning 

Above the white .sand sea. 



iff\i<\\\ %,ii\ fri 




''EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM." 

They built their altar, and with memories tender 

Their peaceful homes begun, 
And rose the city in its ancient splendor 

Beneath the Syrian sun. 

New walls they built, the holy shrine defending, 

New streets the prophets trod ; 
Then Ezra spake, the prophet's hill ascending, 

" Hear ye the Word of God ! " 

Then reverent feet the sacred hill surrounded. 

The chief, the sire, the youth : 
" O Israel, hear ! The nation ye have founded 

Must know God's Word of truth." 

The ancient law, first to the rabbi given, 

Fell from the prophet's tongue ; 
And 'neath the blue pavilion of the heaven 

The choirs of Asaph sung. 

The old and young beneath the palms were seated, 

Where the deep fountains lay. 
The Rabbi lessons from the Law repeated, — 

'T was Judah's Bible-day. 

They brought from mountains, from the brooks and meadows, 

The myrtle, palm, and pine ; 
And made them tents, and in the fragrant shadows 

Rehearsed the Word Divine. 

There they recalled the seraph-crowned mountain. 

When God to Sinai came, 
And told the tales of Meribah's sweet fountain. 

And pillared cloud and flame. 

Green grew the white streets of the city beauteous. 

Each place of palms and pools ; 
And in those green tents, filled with households duteous, 

Were Ezra's Bible-schools. 

O glorious days ! — days of the open vision 

And answers swift to prayer. 
When walked the priest so near the realms elysian, 

He breathed immortal air. 



259 



26o ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

O'er Shusan's palace drift the sands relentless, 

And herbless lie and deep, 
On that dead plain, where Babylonia tentless 

Sleeps her immortal sleep. 

Persepolis is dead, and Judah lonely 

Sits with discrowned brow ; 
Of all those scenes, the Bible lessons only 

Live with the nations now. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE SULTAN AND PALESTINE. 



The Sultan. — Palestine. — A Family that could not be Conquered. 




HE young mind naturally asks how it is that 
the historic Hebrew race, the moral law- 
givers of the world, should be so largely 
under the dominion of the Mohammedan 
Sultan, and that Palestine should be a 
dependency of the weakest of the Euro- 
pean powers. 

The Ottoman Empire, with its prov- 
inces, corresponds in many respects to 
the old Byzantine Empire in the period of her splendor and progress. 
It arose on the ruins of that old empire, and the faith of the False 
Prophet became the inspiration of its arts and arms. Mohammed II. 
(1451-1481), called the Conqueror, was the founder of the greatness 
of Turkey. He conquered Constantinople in 1453. Among his am- 
bitious successors was Selim I. (15 12-1520), who conquered Mesopo- 
tamia, Syria, and Egypt. His son Soliman the Magnificent completed 
the conquest of the Levant. In the sixteenth century Turkey reached 
the height of her power. 

Turkey in Europe numbers nearly nine million inhabitants, and 
Turkey in Asia a little more than thirteen million. Of these one 
hundred and fifty thousand are Jews. 



262 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS TN THE LEVANT. 

The Crusades, as has been explained in another volume, were 
organized to liberate Palestine from the rule of the Sultans, and to 
secure the Holy Places to the Christian world. They failed. For 
hundreds of years the Turkish Empire has seemed tottering to its fall ; 
but though weakened, its old boundaries and dependencies continue, 
and Constantinople is the throne of the East. 



THE SULTAN. 

Abdul Hamid, the present Sultan of Turkey, is a brother of the 
unfortunate Murad, who preceded him, and was deposed, and is a 
younger son of the Sultan Abdul Medjid. His advent to the Turkish 
throne was sudden ; for Murad, after a very brief reign, became insane, 
and thus was unfitted to govern. At the time of his accession the 
world knew almost absolutely nothing of young Abdul Hamid. 

Less than thirty years of age, with but a remote prospect of ever 
ascending the throne, he had always led the obscure and retired life to 
which all Turkish princes of the blood are subjected. Of a sudden 
he appeared on the pinnacle of power, and that at a moment when, 
above all things, experience and statesmanship seemed to be needed 
to save the Turkish Empire in Europe from destruction. 

It soon appeared that Hamid was an abler and more energetic 
man than his brother. He devoted himself with zeal to his most 
difficult duties ; he proved free from many of the debasing vices which 
have disgraced the lives of so many sultans ; and he showed too much 
sense to cling obstinately to despotic power at a time when wisdom 
lay in concession and conciliation. The Sultan Abdul Hamid is 
described as rather tall and slio^ht in form, with an oval and swarthv 
face, large dark eyes, and short black hair, while he wears a long, 
sweeping, black mustache, and no other beard. 

In manner he is quiet, serious, and dignified. His habits are good. 
He rises early, and devotes many hours a day to councils of his min- 



THE SULTAN AND PALESTINE. 263 

isters and the business of the State. He is accomplished in several 
languages ; and the forced retirement of his life before he ascended 
the throne was spent in study and reading rather than in the indolent 
pleasures of the Ottoman court. 

It would be a great mistake to suppose that Turkey, however bad 
her government has become, is wanting in able and enlightened states- 
men. There has seldom been a period when the councils of the Sul- 
tan have not contained men of eminent talents and broad views. The 
late Fuad Pasha, who declared that Turkey must follow the lead of 
the other European nations in liberty and progress, was the equal, 
perhaps, of any statesman on that Continent. 

His first Grand Vizier was Midhut Pasha, a statesman of liberal 
views. Under his influence the young Sultan granted to Turkey a 
constitution which guaranteed a legislature composed of a Senate 
to be nominated by him, and a Chamber of Deputies to represent the 
people. In this assembly the provinces, for the first time for centuries, 
had a voice. 

The first meeting of the Turkish Parliament took place in March, 
1877, in the palace at Constantinople. 

The ceremony of opening the Parliament was a brilliant and im- 
posing one. The palace of Dolma-Baghtche stands upon the shore of 
the sparkling Bosphorus, and rises, with its white marble walls and 
columns, amid a forest of domes, pavilions, and minarets. It has a 
great hall, which is spacious and lofty, and fairly dazzles the eye with 
its decorations of gold. 

The approaches to the palace were crowded at an early hour by 
a multitude, among whom appeared the many fantastic and brightly 
colored costumes of the East. The hall itself was lined with the Sul- 
tan's g-uards, in scarlet coats and high crimson velvet hats, in shape 
resembling helmets, with large plumes. 

When the hour of the ceremony was near, the hall gradually filled 
with the great dignitaries of Church and State, each wearing a gor- 



264 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

geous costume peculiar to his office, and the stars of the various 
Turkish orders of knighthood. 

At one end of the room was a gorgeous throne, which was said to 
be of pure gold ; at least, so it looked, being entirely of a glistening 
golden hue. When all the great people had taken their places, the 
Grand Vizier entered ; and then, surrounded by his chief courtiers, 
appeared the pale face of the young Sultan Abdul Hamid. 

The Sultan was much more plainly dressed than many of the 
personages around him. He wore an unadorned blue coat and simple 
red fez, and at his side swung his State sword. He advanced slowly 
to the throne, while the dignitaries on either side bowed almost to 
the earth ; when he reached it, he looked around quietly and bowed 
slightly. 

Then he motioned to the Grand Vizier, who came forward, bow- 
ing at each step so low that his right hand touched the floor. The 
Sultan handed him a roll of paper, which the Grand Vizier kissed, 
and gave over to the Sultan's secretary. This official unrolled it, and 
amid profound silence read its contents. It was the Sultan's speech, 
opening his first Parliament. This over, the Sultan proceeded out of 
the hall ; as he emerged from the palace, salvos of artillery boomed 
over the Bosphorus ; and the ceremony was at an end. 

It was the first gleam of Turkish political liberty in the Levant. 



TURKISH PALESTINE. 

The word Palestine is synonymous with Philistia, and was given to 
the southern portion of the Jewish kingdom. The Romans, after the 
conquest of the Jews, gave the name to the whole province, or kingdom. 
The ancient harbor of Caesarea was the principal port of Palestine 
during the Roman dominion. 

The country was subject to the Roman and Byzantine emperors 
for some six hundred years of the early Christian era. After the 



THE SULTAN AND PALESTINE. 265 

destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews became exiles and slaves, 
and were driven into nearly all parts of the world. 

Christianity spread. The Holy Places of Jerusalem became shrines 
for the pilgrims of all Christian lands. Helena and Constantine 
erected chapels and altars there, and monumented the places of sacred 
scenes and associations. The land was conquered by the Persians, the 
Arabs, the Egyptians, and the Turks. Then came the romantic 
period of the Crusades, during the rule of the Egyptian sultans. The 
sultans of Egypt held the country until 151 7, when it was conquered 
by the Turks ; and it has remained a Turkish province until the pres- 
ent time, with the exception of a brief occupation by Egypt. As the 
government of the Sultan becomes more liberal, the Turkish restrictions 
in Palestine are made less severe. 

Titus broke the Jewish power. The Hebrew nation has never 
been strong or united since the temple fell, in the first centur}^ of 
the Christian era. 

The Jews gave their blood like water for their city and temple. 

Old Ali Bedair loved to relate tales of that heroic epoch, and to 
contrast the spirit of that final struggle with the patriotic records of 
other lands. 

One of his stories of the heroism of his ancient ancestors left a 
vivid picture in the mind. 

A FAMILY THAT COULD NOT BE CONQUERED. 

The city fell ; the temple departed in fire : but the old spirit lived in the 
families of the dead heroes. 

There was a widow in Jerusalem who had seven sons. Her husband had 
died in the siege. 

" Bring the family before me," said the conqueror, who had learned that 
they were of noble birth and true to the faith of the patriarchs. 

They were brought into the palace. 

"Thou must pay homage to the gods of Rome," he said to the eldest son. 

" Our law says, ' I am the Lord thy God.' To no other god will I bow." 



266 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. . 

" Let him be taken to execution," said the conqueror. 

" Thou must worship the gods of Rome," he said to the second son. 

" My brother did not ; neither will I." 

" Wherefore ? " 

" The second law says, ' Thou shalt have no other gods but me.' " 

" Let him follow his brother to death." 

" Wilt thou worship the gods of thy conquerors ? " he said to the third. 

"Never!" 

" Wherefore ? " 

" I bow to the fate of my brothers, and honor their example ; but never will I 
worship what is false." 

" Let him share the fate of his brothers," said the conqueror. 

" Wilt thou worship my gods ? " he demanded of the fourth. 

" Never ! " 

" Wherefore ? " 

" God is God." 

" Let him die." 

"Art thou like the others ? " he asked of the fifth. 

" ' God is one. Hear, O Israel ! ' " 

" Leadjiim away." 

" Obstinate, like the rest ? " he asked of the sixth. 

" God is terrible." 

" Go." 

" My son, thou art young and fair," he said to the seventh. *' Keep thy life. 
Thou art but a child." 

" ' The Lord, he is God, in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath.' " 

" So young, so fair. Bow, and the future is thine." 

" The Lord shall reign forever." 

" I will drop my ring for the sake of the gods. Pick it up, my child, and 
thou shalt be spared." 

" Let it lay where it fell. I fear life without God, but I fear not man." 

" If thy God be great and merciful, why does he not deliver thee, as thou 
sayest he delivered thy fathers of old .'' " 

" I am not worthy of redemption, neither art thou worthy to witness a dis- 
play of God's power." 

" Thou shalt join thy brothers." 

" And, woman, what sayest thou .' " he demanded of the widow. 

"Abraham built one altar for the sacrifice of his son; I have built seven, 
aiifl made the offerings. Let me join my sons." 




CHAPTER XIII. 

ATHENS. 

Athens. — Ix the Streets of Athens. — How People travel in Greece. 

OPPA the beautiful, the father of .the ports of the world, 

looks like a ruined temple from the sea, like one colossal 

building. To the port of Joppa the cedars of Lebanon 

were sent " in flotes " for the building of the temple. 

The gardens around the city are lovely ; but the beauty 

of Joppa disappears when the city is entered, whether it be from the 

land or from the sea. 

Charlie Noble and Wyllys Winn were invited by Frank Gray to 
go with him to Athens, and there visit the American School of Classi- 
cal Studies, and the scenes and associations of Greek literature and 
art. They accepted the invitation. 

It had been Frank Gray's purpose to induce the whole party to 
return with him to Athens ; but Mr. Leland decided to rest awhile at 
Joppa and Jerusalem, and then, in company with Charlie and Ali 
Bedair, to go to Damascus and the ruins of Palmyra, or to Persia 
and India, as his health should determine. Ali Bedair and Charlie 
at the last moment also accepted Frank Gray's invitation, and accom- 
panied him and his companions to Greece. 
The party divided at Joppa. 

Frank Gray and his friends waited here two days for the steamer 
to the Pir^us. They spent the time in visiting the bazaars and the 
so-called house of Simon the Tanner, now a kind of mosque. 



268 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Joppa, in old story, is made the place where Noah entered the ark. 
It has a long and splendid history during the Christian era of the 
struggles of the West for Palestine. At present the best thing about 
the city would seem to be its oranges, which are the finest, or among 
the finest, in the world. 

The harbor is shallow. The boys reached the steamer by boats. 
The steamers to the port usually lie in the roadstead, a half-mile 
distant from the quay. 

" How much will your trip cost you ? " asked Mr. Leland of Charlie 
Noble, as they were about to part. 

" Less than five hundred dollars, I hope," said Charlie. " It would 
have cost me much more; but I went as your guest from Caiio to 
Thebes, and I go on Frank Gray's invitation to Athens. But I find 
that my visit to Alexandria, Cairo, the ruins of Memphis, Jerusalem, 
and Bethlehem, including return fare to New York, will cost me about 
five hundred dollars. A person whose passion for travel would lead 
him to be very economical could visit the three great cities of history, 
Alexandria, Cairo, and Jerusalem, including Beihlekeut, for that sum." 

The low figures for fares of the World Travel Co., New York 
(1885), are as follows: — 

ROUTE 132. 

New York, Liverpool, Glasgow or London, Dover or Folkestone, Paris, Turin, Genoa, Rubat- 
tino steamer to Alexandria, Cairo, steamer to Naples, rail to Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, 
St. Gothard, Lucerne, Bale, Paris, Calais or Boulogne, London, Liverpool or Glasgow, New 
York. 

This tour can be accomplished in sixty days, exclusive of ocean travel. 

ISt Cl. 2dCl. 

Anchor, Cunard, Guion, Inman, White Star Lines to Liverpool . $415.35 $381.50 

Allan Line to Liverpool 385.35 35i-50 

National Line to Liverpool 355-35 321.50 

Anchor Line to Glasgow 389.35 352.84 

State Line to Glasgow 379-35 342.84 

National and Monarch Lines to London 331-35 300. 84 

SIDE TOURS IN EGYPT AND THE HOLY LAND. 

ISt Cl. 2dCl. 

a. Alexandria to Cairo and back $ u.96 $ 7.96 

^. Alexandria to Cairo, Ismailia, Suez Canal, Port Said . . . 14.33 n-io 





THE SUBUKISS OF ATHF.XS. 



ATHENS. 271 

c. Jaffa to Jerusalem and back ; horse, or seat in a carriage . . ?;i9.6o 

d. Short tour, occupying three days, from Jerusalem to Bethle- 

hem, Solomon's Pool, Mar Saba, Dead Sea, Jordan, Jericho, 

back to Jerusalem 22.50 

ROUTE 133. 

New York, Liverpool, Glasgow or London, New Haven, Dieppe (or via Dover and Folkestone 
at increased fares), Paris, Turin, Venice, Trieste, Austrian Lloyd steamer to Alexandria, 
Cairo, Ismailia, Port Said, Jaffa (for Jerusalem and inland Palestine tour), Beyrout (for Damas- 
cus and Baalbec), Alexandria, Brindisi, Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Turin, Paris, 
Rouen, London, Liverpool or Glasgow, New York. 

This tour can be accomplished in seventy days, exclusive of ocean travel. 

1st Cl. 2d ci. 

Anchor, Cunard, Guion, Inman, White Star Lines to Liverpool . $465.85 $429.60 

Allan Line to Liverpool 435.85 399.60 

National Line to Liverpool 40585 369.60 

Anchor Line to Glasgow 439-85 400.94 

State Line to Glasgow 429.85 390.94 

National and Monarch Lines to London 381.85 348.94 

Members of the School met the boys at the Piraeus, — the port of 
Athens. We have given a view of the ancient temples of the city in 
another volume, and shall speak chiefly of social life and travel here. 

It is one of the remarkable changes of civilization that American 
youth should" have the opportunity of finishing their classical studies 
here, amid the very scenes and associations of the literature they are 
pursuing. The time is soon coming when American scholars prepar- 
ing to teach the classics will at least wish to complete their studies in 
Athens, should the American School there prove successful. 



IN THE STREETS OF ATHENS. 

The story is told of old Ulysses, that after an absence of twenty 
years from his home, he was borne by the Phaeacians across the seas, 
and placed while asleep on the shore of his native island. In order 
that we may take a view of what our friends saw, let us try to believe 
that we, either by the Phaeacians or by means of some magic carpet, 



272 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

have been transported across the seas in the night, and have waked 
up in the old city of Athens. 

It is a strange cry that breaks our slumbers. " Gala ! gala ! " says 
the voice ; and we rush to the window to see what sight awaits us, 
when, to our disappointment, we behold a modern milk-cart, and con- 
clude that "gala " must be the Greek word for milk, and this must be 
the milkman's cry. 

Scarcely have we made this new discovery before the words " Selapi 
zesto ! Selapi zesto ! " fall on our ear, and we wonder what this " Selapi 
zesto," which some one is carrying about in a tin pail, can be. We 
find on inquiry that it is a warm drink made of something like arrow- 
root, and that the Greeks are very fond of it, and often take it before 
risinsf in the mornino^. 

As we sit at our breakfast of coffee, rolls, and wild honey from 
Mount Hymettus, the sound of fife and drum arouses our curiosity, 
and we learn that the royal guard is being changed. 

It is thought to be necessary everywhere to guard kings and 
queens, you know ; and so a certain number of soldiers stand about 
the palace for a certain length of time, and then are relieved by others. 

After breakfast we start out on an exploring expedition through 
the streets of this interesting old city. 

The sun shines out warm and bright ; the soft air floats in from 
the sea. 

As we walk along the well-paved streets, and look at the fine stone 
and marble houses in the new part of the city, we forget also that we 
are out of New York or Boston, until a donkey, laden with panniers 
of fruits or vegetables, or covered all over with brushwood, appears 
upon the scene, and then we wake up to the fact that this is a country 
where the traffic is carried on by donkey-lines instead of express-lines. 
The donkeys and their drivers stop in front of the doors, and the 
housewives supply themselves for the day ; or perhaps the donkeys do 
not deposit their burdens till they reach the general market. 



IWffililfW 



Jill 1 






i;;::.!,;!:,.. 




ATHENS. 275 

Let us take a walk first in Hermes Street, which is one of the 
principal business thoroughfares of the city, and on our way we will 
pass the king's palace. 

It is a great, square, brown stuccoed building, so very bare and 
ugly that we are sure that you would never be tempted to become 
King or Queen of Greece for the sake of living there. There is 
nothing to be seen save the dusty plot in front, and the few soldiers 
on guard ; so we pass through a small park, and find ourselves at the 
opening of Hermes Street, the Broadway of Athens. 

It was very appropriate to name this street after the old god 
Hermes, for he was the patron of merchants, and here is where the 
merchants have a large part of their finest stores. 

Many of them look like those we see in America. Here are dry- 
goods stores and millinery establishments and jewelry shops, where 
perhaps the windows glitter with diamonds ; for diamonds are cheaper 
in Athens than in America. Here are shops for books and pictures, 
for glass and china. The china tempts us, and we go in to look at 
the delicate little cups for after-dinner Turkish coffee, — cups deco- 
rated with Athena's head, and the Greek border in blue and gold. 

Next door is a Turkish shop, a little room not larger than a com- 
mon clothes-closet. Here the Turk sits cross-legged on his counter, 
and hands down from the well-filled shelves any number of tempting 
Turkish and Persian rugs, beautifully embroidered table-spreads, fezes, 
costumes, pipes, and, in fact, almost everything that one finds in Con- 
stantinople itself 

As we pass on, we see in a window what seems to be a dead ani- 
mal, lying on his back with feet in the air. We stop, and ascertain 
that it is the skin of an animal filled with lard ; and as the lard is cut 
off for customers, the skin is opened and turned back. It makes one 
think of the goat-skins for carrying water and wine, used in the time of 
Christ, and even now in the East. Outside of this shop stand casks 
of wine and olive-oil, waiting: for customers. 



276 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

Most of the people dress as we do ; but it is very easy to select 
many who are attired in peculiar and picturesque costumes. 

Here is the peasant from the neighboring country, with his scarlet 
fez and dark blue cotton jacket and trousers. The fashion of his 
trousers never changes, for they are always made like a great square 
bao-, gathered at the waist, and with holes in the two lower corners for 
the feet to pass through. 

Here is the elderly man of Athens, who clings to the national cos- 
tume ; and well he may, for he will tell you that he fought in the 
Greek Revolution. He makes a pretty picture, attired in scarlet fez, 
with blue or black tassel, a short scarlet mantle hanging loosely from 
his shoulders, beautifully embroidered jacket, a white kilt skirt coming 
to the knees, handsome leggings braided with scarlet and gilt, and 
prettily ornamented Greek shoes. 

This picturesque old gentleman attracts us all the more if he hap- 
pens^o walk by the side of a Greek priest who dresses in a straight 
black gown, coming to the feet, and wears on his head something that 
looks exactly like a piece of stove-pipe a foot high, covered with black 
cloth. 

During the Carnival days one meets long lines of carriages, filled 
with people wearing masks and dressed in every imaginable fashion. 
There are also trains of donkeys, whose riders are so disguised as to 
render them more like donkeys than men. 

One character at the Carnival, we were told, was a little boy, who 
actually hid himself inside of a goat's skin, head and all ; and so looked 
like a veritable goat, walking on his hind feet, with a belt of bells 
about his waist. He was trying to make himself into a Satyr of the 
olden time. 

In contrast with such a scene one may hear the low, monotonous 
dirge of the priests, and, aware that a funeral procession is coming, 
step one side to see this peculiar spectacle. There is no long line 
of carriages, as with us ; but every one walks. 




THK ATHENIAN CARNIVAL. 



A THENS. 



79 



First come the priests in white robes, chanting a funeral dirge. 
Then follows a man bearing upright the coffin-lid, which is white and 
ornamented with a large cross and artificial flowers. After this walk 
the bearers with the open coffin, thus exposing the deceased to the 
gaze of every one. Lastly come the friends and the curious crowd, 
who always follow. 

A hearse or catafalque is sometimes used, but the body is not often 
put into it until after the city limits are passed. 

If we go out to the cemetery, we find that on the new-made graves 
earthen jars have been broken, as a symbol that " the silver cord is 
loosed, the golden bowl is broken." 

And now, after having wandered somewhat up and down the streets 
of Athens till we are too weary to enjoy more, we start for home. 

We step into the market a moment, to take a hungry look at the 
oranges and lemons and figs and dates and olives and Smyrna raisins 
that lie about in great confusion. We need not remain hungry, how- 
ever, for all these fruits are marvellously cheap. Think of buying as 
nice figs as you ever saw for four cents a pound, and choice seedless 
raisins for the same price. 

We stop at the end of the street and gaze at the beautiful Parthe- 
non, which rises against the clear blue of this Southern sky; and then, 
after passing two or three Greek churches, we enter our hotel. 

HOW PEOPLE TRAVEL IN GREECE. 

People who live in Athens do not take the express train for 
Marathon, or a sleeping-car for Thermopylae. 

There is but one railroad in all Greece (1883), and that is only five 
miles long and was five years in building. It extends from the Piraeus, 
which is the harbor of Athens, to the city, running part of the way on 
the line of the Long Walls that Themistocles built so many centuries 



2 8o ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

This is a very short " through Hne," and does not run " lightning 
expresses; " but 1 dare say some of our American railroad kings would 
be glad to own it, for it pays twelve per cent dividends. 

Wherever there is a road, one can go by carriage ; and if he starts 
from Athens, he will have a good carriage and small but fairly good 
horses. If he starts from any other place, he may ride in some Noah's 
family carriage, and his horses may be dressed in old clothes-lines, 
instead of black leather harnesses with silver-plated buckles and rings. 

Where there are no carriage-roads the usual way of travelling is on 
horses. 

" We wanted to go from Athens," wrote Charlie Noble to Charlie 
Leland of his experience, " into the interior of the country. We went 
to a man who kept horses, and made a bargain with him for three 
horses and the services of a guide. His word was not a sufficient 
guarantee that he would keep his engagement; so, as has been the 
custom for centuries in the East, he gave us a certain amount of 
money, called kaparo, or earnest money, which we were to keep until 
we paid him at the end of the journey. 

" The next morning, George, the guide, came with the horses. 

" After leaving the good roads near Athens, we found only bridle- 
paths ; and these, much of the way over the mountains, were rough 
and dangerous. The Greeks very appropriately call such a path 
kake skala, or ' bad stairs.' 

"We occasionally met a peasant and his donkey, laden with small 
casks of wine or of olive oil for the market. At noon we were glad to 
sit under the shadow of a rock, and eat the lunch brought from Athens. 

" At night we stopped at a small village. There was no hotel, not 
even a country tavern ; but the Greeks are very hospitable, and several 
people gathered around, and invited us to their houses. 

" Desiring to be in good company, we went home with the priest 
of the village. Greek priests, unlike Catholic priests, marry, and have 
families. 










'M 'Li 

^si,^j!.,:a m, i ;'u « kirn 



A THENS. 



283 



" They could offer us no 
chickens, and killed and 
coffee in our bags, 
us the use of a 
coals on the 
bought a 
and alto 
supper. 

"As 
the fire, 
old priest, 
ignorant, 
from Amer 
ica, a country 
where it is noon 
when it is six o'clock 
at evening in Greece. \ 
' How can this be ? ' 
said the ])riest. We 
tried with our closed 
hand to explain to him 
that the world was 
round, and turned on 
its axis every twenty- 
four hours, and also 
the relative positions of 
Greece and America, 
when, to our surprise f 
and amusement, he 
exclaimed, as a child 
among us might have 
done, ' How, then, do people 



supper 
roasted 



little 




but George brought two live 

We had bread and 

the priest's wife gave 

n cup and the live 

health. I hen we 



milk. 



gcther had a good 



we sat before 

George told the 

who was very 

that we came 






i:^- 



TRAVELLING IN GREECE. 

keep from falling off } ' 



284 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" When bedtime came, the ' strangers from America ' were offered 
the spare-chamber of the house, and where do you think it was ? The 
middle of the floor in the general sitting-room. 

" The priest and his wife slept on one side of the room, we in the 
middle, and the children of the family on the other side. They fur- 
nished us mats for beds, and goat-skins to throw over us ; and we 
rolled up our own blankets for pillows. To be sure, these were not 
' downy beds of ease ; ' but a hard day's work had prepared us to forget 
our surroundings, and we were soon dreaming of soft mattresses and 
pleasant homes in America. 

" As soon as we made our appearance in the street in the morning, 
we were surrounded by an eager group of men and boys, all having 
something to sell. The Greeks are always ready for a bargain. They 
knew we were going farther, and would want something for dinner. 
One man brought a live lamb, another some chickens, and another 
some goat's flesh, which the Greek peasants prefer to lamb, and often 
tried to sell us for lamb. We bought the lamb. George turned 
' butcher and baker ' again, and before long we were on the way, with 
our roasted lamb ready for the noonday meal. 

" George told us we would find a good hotel at our next stopping- 
place ; and although visions of carpets and spring beds did not flash- 
before us, we hoped at least to be comfortable. 

" On reaching the place it was dark, so that we were not able to 
judge of this grand hotel from its outward appearance. The room we 
first entered contained, to say the least, a great deal of furniture, but 
it was not like that usually seen in American hotels. On one side 
was a tub of soap and a barrel of salt-fish. On the shelves was the 
stock of a general store, from a ball of twine and a clay pipe to large 
water-jars, which the Greek women carry on their heads, and which 
look like those that Rebecca and her maidens carry in Biblical 
pictures. 

" This room was indeed the great store of the place, where 




HKRMONTHIS. 



ATHENS. 287 

everybody came to buy, and where everybody sat to talk over the 
news with the good-natured storekeeper and his pretty black-eyed 
wife. 

" We were shown into the room out of this. It had no carpet on 
the floor and no windows. There were holes cut in the wall to let in 
the lisfht and air, and these were closed at nia^ht with board shutters. 
There were three lounges, which were a luxury after sleeping on the 
floor. 

" In the principal town where we stopped on this journey, the chief 
man, or mayor, to whom we had a letter of introduction, furnished us 
good beds and plenty to eat, and would take nothing for it. 

" People who have plenty of time and like to walk often make 
journeys about Greece on foot. 

" Would you know w^iat we saw on this journey.'* We saw moun- 
tains, snow-capped and purple, in the distant atmosphere. We saw 
plains covered with growing cotton and groves of fig and olive trees 
and vineyards. We saw ruined fortresses and walls, built by the 
Greeks of ancient times ; and we saw plenty of Greek boys and girls, 
who were very bright and curious to know all about us. Some of 
them could even speak a little English. One boy, seeing the nickel 
on my hand-bag, exclaimed, ' Plenty of money ! plenty of money ! ' 
I doubt if there are many American boys who could speak as much 
modern Greek as that. 

" Greece is a peninsula, with the beautiful blue sea almost all 
about it. The yEgean Sea on the east and the Adriatic on the west 
are dotted with numerous islands ; and it is very pleasant, especially in 
the warm weather of summer, to go over to these islands, where one 
can get the sea-breeze continually. 

" The Greek people have always loved the sea ; and if you were to 
go into the harbor of Athens to-day, you would think they loved it 
still. There are innumerable boats of all kinds, from the small row- 
boat to the large steamer. 



288 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" It is a pretty sight to stand on the dock and see these boats, 
laden with oranges and other delicious fruits and sometimes having 
painted sails, float in and out on the blue water of the ^gean. 

" Greek steamers are quite like any others, although not so large 
perhaps. If one wishes to take passage on a Greek steamer, he can- 
not go aboard from the dock, as the steamer is anchored out in the 
harbor, and he must be rowed to it in a small boat. If he wishes to 
leave the steamer at any island, he will find a crowd of small boats, 
with strange-looking boatmen in red fezes, w^aiting to carry pas- 
sengers to shore. As the hackmen in New York ask if you want a 
' kerridge,' so these boatmen all cry out, each one at the top of his 
voice, hoping to be heard above the others, and secure the greatest 
number of passengers. 

" People of Greece prefer travelling by water, and so, instead of 
making excursions into the country, they take pleasure-trips to some 
of the islands. 

" It will perhaps be many years before there are any more rail- 
roads in Greece; but we hope the time may come when, instead of 
trains of donkeys, the Greek people may see trains of cars, as we do in 
America. 

" If Greece could only be connected with the railway system of 
central Europe, the number of tourists going to that classic land 
would be greatly increased. Perhaps that good time will not come 
until the Turk is driven ' bag and baggage ' out of Europe." 




AX AKAK bOV. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

THE NEW GREEK EMPIRE. 

The King and Queen of Greece. — The New Empire. — A Day at Marathon. — 
Old Ali Bedair's Story of Marathon. 

King of Greece is a member of that Danish royal 
family who have made alliances by marriage witli 
the leading powers of Europe. One of his sisters is 
the Empress of Russia, and another is the Princess 
of Wales. He is now about forty years of age 

His youth was romantic, as was the youth of 
the several members of the Danish royal family. 
When the throne of Greece was left vacant in 1863, 
it was offered to several European princes, — among them, the Duke 
of Edinburgh : it was as often declined. 

Prince George of Denmark was then seventeen years of age. He 
was a popular prince, of a popular family ; and notwithstanding his 
youth, the Greeks, on the 6th of June, 1863, oftercd him the historic 
crown of their country, and the lad accepted it. 

He found Greece full of factions ; but he brought to the govern- 
ment the ardor and vigor of youth, with a maturity of judgment far 
beyond his years. His wisdom grew, and Greece to-day is one of the 
best-governed countries in Europe. 

" Whom shall the handsome young king of Greece marry ? "' was 
asked in every court of Europe. 

The success of his government was now assured, and over his 
little kingdom hung the romance of three thousand years. His hand 



292 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

was worthy of a noble princess. He did not let the courts choose 
for him. His heart made the choice. He had met, and had learned 
greatly to admire, a young Russian Princess, Olga, daughter of the 
Grand Duke Constantine, and niece of the Czar. 

They had become friends ; the friendship ripened into love. She 
accepted his hand ; and the young king's choice seemed to please all 
the courts of Europe, and he was married to the handsome princess 
in 1867. 

The new queen had good sense as well as beauty, and her delight- 
ful home-life commended her to the Greeks. The King and Queen 
of Hellenes have now five children, and their eldest son is the Duke 
of Sparta. 

There are two reasons why Greece is, or should be, a country of 
peculiar interest to us. One is, that it is the land of the most noble 
and august ancient memories. Its heroes, its philosophers, its litera- 
ture, and its great deeds of old make its renown dear even to our 
remote generation. 

. The second feature of its interest lies in the fact that after many 
centuries of abasement and torpor, Greece has, within the past sixty 
years, revived its' energies and shown a new and rapid growth. It has 
become free ; and it has established a constitutional government, under 
which its progress has been very marked. 

When Greece, however, became independent of Turkish rule, a 
part of the territory inhabited by Greeks still remained, and remains 
to this day, under the Sultan's dominion. At the time of the Russo- 
Turkish war the Greeks were anxious to seize the opportunity to 
wrest this territory from the Turk. But the great powers prevailed 
on Greece to refrain from declaring war against Turkey, and held out 
the hope that when the Eastern troubles were settled, Greece would 
obtain at least a portion of the desired territory. 

At the Congress of Berlin, which met to settle the terms of peace 
between Russia and Turkey, Greece put in its claim. It was warmly 



thp: new greek empire. 



'■93 



sustained by France and Italy ; but none of the other powers would 
agree to compel Turkey to give up any territory to Greece. They 
did, however, all agree to recommend to the Sultan to satisfy his 
neighbor by some concession. 

Time went on, and the Sultan delayed taking the adx'ice of the 
Congress. Meanwhile Greece became restive and impatient; and a 
large proportion of the people clamored for war with Turkey, so as to 
acquire the territory by force. 

Then a Conference of the powers met at Berlin, and proceeded to 
mark out a line on the map, and to urge upon Turkey to yield all the 
territory on the south of that line to Greece. This line passed nearly 
midway between the line up to which Greece claimed that her frontier 
should extend and that up to which the Sultan agreed that he would 
cede. 

The Sultan refused to accept the advice of the Conference, as he 
had already done that of the more important body, the Congress. 
Ever since this refusal, negotiations, aided by the envoys of the 
other powers, have been going on between Turkey and Greece. 

The national spirit of Greece has somewhat revived under the vigor- 
ous example of King George. The nation has striven again and 
again for independence from her Mohammedan oppressors. Her day 
of emancipation is gradually appearing, despite the dark omens of 
the past. As Epaminondas said to his timid generals, quoting from 
Homer, — 

'• His sword the brave man draws, 
And knows no omen but his country's cause." 



A DAY AT MARATHON. 

Marathon ! Almost every school-boy is familiar with the story of 
/^^^/ day, and has paid the tribute of his first efforts in oratory to Leon- 
idas. So proud were our young tourists of their visit to the mound 



294 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 



of the ancient heroes, that CharHe Leland wrote to Master Lewis and 
the pupils of the old school at Yule an account of it, and enclosed 
in the letter anemones from the plain. 

Athens, April — . 
Dear Teacher and Pupils of Yule, — It is indeed a pleasure to me to 
be able to write to you from this city an account of a day at Marathon. 

It was early, one bright morning in April, when four of us packed ourselves 
and our lunch-basket into a two-horse carriage, and started for a drive of 
twenty-two miles, from Athens to Marathon. 




A FOUNTAIN IN GREECE. 



April in Greece is like May in New England ; and as we drove out of the 
city, the warm sun gave us a morning welcome, and the fresh breeze patted 
us on the check. The morning clouds, that lay like huge fleeces of white wool 
on Ihe mountain-tops, were dyed rose-color and crimson and gold by the magic 
touch of the sun. 

We rode through a narrow plain, with mountains on either side. On the 
right was Hymettus, where the wild bees have lived for thousands of years, and 
where they still make honey for the Athenians to eat. 




RUINS OF A TEMPLE IN GREECE. 



THE NEW GREEK EMPIRE. 



297 



On the left was the mountain range of Pentehcus, containing the quarries 
that furnished beautiful marble for the buildings of old Athens, and from which 
the rich people of Athens still build their houses. 

As we rode along into the more desolate part of the country, where trees 
and underbrush shut us in on either side, we opened our eyes wide, and peered 
into the bushes, half expecting to see a band of robbers, or brigands, ready to 
spring upon us. 

The story was fresh in our minds, how, ten or more years ago, a company of 
English ladies and gentlemen started for Marathon, and somewhere near this 
part of the road, were seized by a band of brigands and hurried away to the 
mountains. The ladies and one man were allowed to return to Athens ; but the 
brigands refused to give up the otlier four men without a large sum of ransom 
money. 

After a few days a company of Greek soldiers marched out to rescue the 
men ; and when the brigands discovered this, they killed the Englishmen, and 
threw the bodies into the bushes. 

We asked our driver if he would show us where this happened. 

He said, " Oh, yes, I was driving one of the carriages on that very day ; " 
and when we reached the spot, he stopped and pointed out where the brigands 
were concealed in the bushes, and the direction in which they hurried their 
captives away. We looked sharply into the bushes, and as far away as the eye 
could reach, but saw nothing that seemed like brigands, save a few men and 
women, in very peculiar costume, working the fields. 

The Greek Government had to pay at that time so large a sum of money 
to the friends of the murdered men, that since then they have put an end to 
brigandage in Greece proper. The newspaper reports that we sometimes read 
of men being seized by brigands in Greece, can refer only to that part of the 
country which is still ruled bv the Turks. 

After a little, the carriage stopped for fresh horses. These had been sent 
on ahead ; and we found them, not in a stable or barn, — for there was none, — 
but tied to the branches of trees, awaiting our arrival. 

The fresh horses started on with a livelier pace, and soon brought us where 
we could see for the remaining distance the plain of Marathon, walled on one side 
by an amphitheatre of mountains and washed on the other by a semicircular 
bay, whose waters are bluer and more beautiful than any we see in America. 

As a background on the east, stretches the long island of Euboea, with its 
snow-capped mountain-peak, making of the whole a complete and beautiful 
picture. 



298 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

We could not look at all this without thinking how, one afternoon in 
September, twenty-three hundred years ago, this little plain was the scene of 
one of the world's most important battles. 

Here were landed one hundred and ten thousand Persian soldiers, who 
hoped to march to Athens, take possession of the city, and thus conquer the 
entire country. 

But on the mountains, in the rear, were encamped ten thousand Greek 
soldiers, who rushed upon these Persians like hungry lions upon their prey, 
and drove them, a part into the marshy ground on either side of the plain, and 
a part back to their ships. 

As the Persians sailed away, a glittering shield was seen to flash from one 
of the mountain-tops. Miltiades, the Greek general, thought this had been 
placed there by an enemy, as a signal to the Persians to sail to Athens and 
take the city, while the army was away. He therefore marched the Greeks, 
during the night, across the plain, a distance of twenty-two miles, and reached 
Athens just in time to see the Persian fleet enter the bay. 

When the Persians saw, standing on the heights above, the very men who 
had defeated them at Marathon, they sailed away home, and left the little 
Greek army to take care of its own country. 

In this battle the Greeks killed sixty-four hundred Persians, but the Persians 
only killed one hundred and ninety-two Greeks. These one hundred and ninety- 
two men were buried on the plain ; and a high mound, which stands to this da}', 
was raised over them. 

As all these facts rushed through our minds, we threw back the carriage 
top. We stood up and tried to conclude on which one of the mountain-tops the 
bright shield appeared, and where on the plain the Greek army stood ; but no 
one of the dead Greek warriors rose to tell us anything about it, and so we 
had to sit down unsatisfied, especially as we were in danger of losing our hats 
by the strong wind blowing from the plain. 

If Marathon were in America, some enterprising Yankee would long ago 
have erected a great hotel, and lined the shore of the bay with pleasure-boats ; 
but as it is in Greece, there is found only a stable for the horses, and man is 
supposed to know enough to care for himself. 

We took our lunch-basket, and walked over a field of stubble and through 
a vineyard, to the mound. 

This mound is thirty feet high, and six hundred feet in circumference at 
the base. One side of the top has been broken away, so that it is no longer 
perfect in form. 



THE NEW GREEK EMPIRE. 299 

As we approached, it looked like one great flower-bed ; for the bright 
anemones of every color covered its surface to the very top. We climbed 
nearly to the top, on the shady side, and, spreading our blankets on the ground, 
sat down for lunch. 

We had scarcely opened our basket before there appeared, crouching on 
the ground near by, two curious little creatures, so oddly dressed that it was 
difficult to tell whether they were girls or boys. Their faces were so near the 
color of the ground that we concluded they must be relatives of Adam, for they 
certainly seemed made of the " dust of the earth." 

As we threw our half-picked chicken bones and bits of oranges to them, 
their black eyes sparkled with joy, and their smiling lips revealed teeth so white 
and regular that any American boy or girl might have coveted a similar 
treasure. 

Our little brown friends remained with us all the afternoon. They helped 
us pick and arrange the bright anemones ; they gathered shells ; they ran away 
to the plain and came back with their arms full of beautiful wild jonquils for 
which they expected some reward ; and when we laid a Greek coin equal to 
five cents into their hands, they were utterly bewildered to see so much money 
all for themselves. 

These were not the only children whose acquaintance we made at Mara- 
thon. 

Off on the plain were feeding three or four hundred sheep, watched by 
shepherd boys and dogs. These boys, like all children, and especially like all 
Greek children, were curious to see who these strangers were, and, not daring 
to leave their sheep, drove them all up to the mound. 

The sheep admired anemones as well as we ; and we were glad that we had 
picked all we wanted, when we saw the beautiful bright blossoms nipped off. 

These boys carried in their hand the shepherd's crook, which the old Greek 
poetry tells us about ; and the sticks looked old enough to have been the very 
ones of which the poets sang. They also had on shoes that were large enough 
and old enough to have belonged to the shepherds of ages ago. 

Their dress was a kind of brown coarse gown, something like a girl's dress, 
and their heads were bound up in yellow and red cotton handkerchiefs. 

These boys remained in the field night and day ; for you know there are no 
fences in that country, and it is necessary to watch the sheep all the time, to 
prevent them from straying away. 

When the shepherd boy calls, the sheep know his voice and will follow him, 
but they do not know a stranger's voice. This is what Christ refers to in the 



300 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

tenth chapter of John, where he says, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know 
them, and they follow me." 

It is interesting to know that in Greece and the Eastern countries sheep are 
watched and tended and put into folds just as they were in the ancient time. 

But there were other objects of interest to us in this visit to Marathon 
besides Greek shepherd boys and the contents of our lunch-basket. 

We went to the shore and looked out on the clear blue water, and tried to 
imagine how it must have looked, covered with strange Persian war-ships. We 
picked up shells on the beach. We pressed our anemones to bring home to 
America. We walked around the mound, and were seized with a strong desire 
to dig into it and see if there were any bones or treasures of the old Greek 
warriors still remaining. We climbed to the top of the mound, and looked off on 
the beautiful picture, — than which, I believe, there is none fairer, — a picture 
of azure sky, snow-capped and purple-veiled mountains, blue water, and vari- 
egated plain, mottled with flocks of grazing sheep ; and there came to us the 
lines of Lord Byron, — - 

" The mountains looked on Marathon, 
And Marathon looked on the sea." 

We thought we would like to be King George for a little while, just long 
enough to surround this mound with a fine marble railing from Mount Penteli- 
cus, and place a monument on the top, from which should float the flag of the 
Greeks. 

The Greek king and the Greek people have left the mound at Marathon 
uncared for ; but Nature, in her sweet care for all things, has thrown over it a 
many-hued mantle of bright anemones. 

There are living on the plain only shepherds, who till the fields and tend 
their sheep. These shepherds relate, with all sincerity, the old story that has 
always been believed, that at night warriors rise on the plain, and there is heard 
the clashing of steel and the neighing of horses ; and so the battle is often 
fought over again. 

Perhaps some one is asking, Why was the battle of Marathon one of the most 
important in the world's history.^ 

When this question comes to you, stop and try to think what you know 
about the people who live in Asia at the present time, and then remember that 
the old Persians were Asiatics, and a semi-barbarous race. If the Persians 
had been victorious in the battle of Marathon, they might have overrun Europe, 
and the manners and customs of Europe would have been like those of Asia. 



THE NEW GREEK EMPIRE. 



301 



Had Greece become a Persian province, the Greeks could never have been 
the teachers of the world in politics, in literature, and in art. We must remem- 
ber, also, that what Greece did for Europe, she did for us too ; for we inherit 
European ci\'ilization. 

The whole world should therefore rejoice that the ten thousand Greek 
soldiers sent the great Persian horde back to their Asiatic home, and left 
Europe to receive the impress of Greek culture. 



OLD ALI BEDAIR'S STORY OF MARATHON. 

Thought has wings ; it can go back to the past. Let us fly back over the 
events of thousands of years, to the Athens of the philosophers, poets, and 
heroes. 

What is the scene .•* The city is white with temples. Over all rises a hill, 
with temples, — a mountain of marble so bright that it dazzles the eye. 

There are palaces, gardens, statues everywhere. 

The city is a camp now. There are armed men hurrying to and fro, and 
sentinels in bright armor. Anxiety is in every face. 

It is not like a camp of to-day ; it is even less savage, and more splendid 
and poetic. 

Trumpets sound ; the soldiers are putting on their armor ; grooms are lead- 
ing out restive horses ; captains and generals are shouting their commands. 

Everywhere are tents. Some of these are marked by ensigns ; and in them 
men of noble stature are putting on their breastplates, helmets, and swords. 
The armor is of polished brass. The heroes come out and stand in the doors 
of their tents, glittering in the sun, and seeming, indeed, more like gods than 
men. A great shout goes up, — 

" Miltiades ! " 

The soldiers are armed with spears. These are very heavy, and some twelve 
feet long. 

The trumpets sound again. The chiefs take their shields of brass. 

The common soldiers form ; they have shields of leather, and are armed 
with spears. 

It is a glorious morning ; the mountain peaks glow in the sun. The peo- 
ple of the city are in the streets ; there is agitation everywhere. 

" To-day will begin another siege of Troy," said one of the old heroes. 
" The days of Hector and Priam have returned again." 



302 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

" The sea is white with sails," said another. " So say the messengers. 
Such an army before never darkened the shores of Attica." 

" He has landed, — the Great King," passed from lip to lip. 

" Where .'' " 

" At Marathon." 

Trumpets, glittering chiefs, and a hurrying army. Solemn and grand is the 
march from Athens to Marathon. Wives, children, and relatives view, with 
tears, the departing army. 

"They will never return again," passed from lip to lip. "What are they to 
the hosts of the King of Persia, — the king of all the earth } " 

" Battles are won by valor, not numbers," said the sages. " They will come 
back again, and bring joy to the temples of the gods and heroes." 

The gay plumes and glittering chiefs disappeared from view. The trumpets 
became only faint echoes from the hills. Prayers and offerings filled the temples 
of the gods. 

" If we are defeated, Athens is lost," was repeated everywhere. 

Women wailed in the streets, — 

" O Athens, Athens, thy life is in the heroes ; thy hope is in the strength 
of their spears. May the gods fight with the heroes to-day, O Athens, 
Athens ! " 

The little army of Greeks occupy the heights in sight of the sea. There on 
the calm blue waves floated the armaments of Persia, that had come to over- 
whelm Athens and the free States of Greece. Behind were the green hills and 
the marble city. 

The Greek army is small. There is no grand array of cavalry, no sweep- 
ing curve of glittering chariots and charioteers. It is men who are to fight 
to-day. The period of spectacular armies has not yet come. 

The Persian army is drawn up in battle array along the shore. It is vast 
and splendid, and behind it is the fleet. It is composed not only of Persians, 
but of warriors from the many nations over whom Persia bears sway. Its 
chiefs are confident of victory. The Persian king believes that Athens is 
already within his power. 

The army is bright with champions in armor, with chariots and charioteers. 
The soldiers are armed with javelins. They have shields of immense surface, 
some of them so large as to cover the whole body. 

The Persian army are spread out, and fill a great field. The Greeks are 
drawn into solid compact columns. The one army seems vastly larger than it 
is ; the other much smaller. 



THE NEW GREEK EMPIRE. 



303 



The Persians have drawn up a large part of their fleet to the shore. They 
will need it there in case of retreat. Yet they do not dream of disaster. What 
can the little Greek army of infantry on the heights do against all this armament 
of champions, of cavalry, of chariots, and ships } The Persians are a hundred 
thousand strong ; the Greeks but ten thousand. 

There are solemn ceremonies in the Greek camp. The shout goes up : — 

" Miltiades ! Athens ! " 

The Greek orators address the soldiers. 

"Miltiades!" 

An altar smokes, and a sacrifice is performed. 

"Athens !" 

A song arises, — a song to the gods for the liberties of Greece. All is ready 
now for the army to descend upon the plain. The march begins ; the soldiers 
cheering their hero, — 

" Miltiades ! " 

Like the sweep of an eagle the Greek army rushes down upon the Persian 
host, shouting the names of gods and heroes. It is compact, resolute, desper- 
ate. A Greek to-day must be equal to ten Persians. 

The Greeks run upon the scattered army of the Persians, uttering fierce 
cries. The Persians are thrown into a panic. 

The Persians move backward towards the sea. The Greeks deal death and 
destruction everywhere. The Persians fly towards their ships. Six thousand 
are slain, while only about two hundred of the victorious Greeks fall. 

Greece is victorious. Messengers fly back to Athens. Women and chil- 
dren rejoice. There are thanksgivings in the temples of the gods. Athens 
has withstood Asia. Greece is free. 

Marathon is thenceforth to be the watchword of heroes. 

" The flying Mede, his shaf tless broken bow ; 
The fiery Greek, his red pursuing spear ; 
Mountains above, earth's, ocean's, plain below ; 
Death in the front, destruction in the rear." 

" Can you see the scene as it was of old ? " 

" I can, I can," said several of the boys. Old Ali Bedair's descrip- 
tion was enforced by his expression of face and his gestures, so that the 
class seemed not only to see the scene, but to hear the ancient shout, — 

"Miltiades!" 



304 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT. 

From Athens, Charlie Noble and his companion went to Smyrna, 
and there connected with the steamer sailing for America direct, 
stopping only at the European Mediterranean ports, — a voyage of about 
three weeks. The course on the Atlantic was southerly ; the weather 
mild, and the voyage a long pleasure. Rough weather and seas were 
experienced only on approaching New York. The boys had seen 
Alexandria, Cairo, the ruins of Memphis and Thebes, Jerusalem, 
Bethlehem, and Athens, and had entered nearly all the great seaports 
of the Mediterranean, — Genoa, Marseilles, and Gibraltar, — and at 
the last port had landed and visited the fortress. The time occupied 
was about three months. The journey was an education for a 
lifetime. 



University Press ; John Wilson & Son. Cambridge. 





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